Coaches poll, week 2
Johnson & Wales tops New England poll
New England Division III college wrestling poll for week 2, ending Nov. 18. First place votes in parentheses.
Week 2, Nov. 18, 2014
Rec. Pts LW
1. Johnson & Wales (13) 0-0 148 2
2. Roger Williams (2) 1-0 136 1
3. Springfield 0-0 118 3
4. Williams 1-0 100 4
5. Rhode Island College 2-1 95 5
6. Wesleyan 0-0 69 8
7. Coast Guard 2-0 61 7
8. WPI 0-0 40 6
9. Southern Maine 0-0 20 10
10. Norwich Univ. 0-0 19 9
Others receiving votes: Plymouth State 16, Bridgewater State 2, Western New England University 1
NEWA Wrestler of Week
Michael Labell (Stanhope NJ), junior, 184 pounds, Johnson & Wales University
Labell won the Roger Williams Invitational over the weekend. He had three pins and a 7-5 win in the Semifinals over talented sophomore Joe Albina of Roger Williams. No. 2 seed Labell had two first period pins in his first two matches and finished his day off pinning the top seed Jeremy Bailes from Messiah in 2:54. Labell’s championship and his 3 first period pins helped lead Johnson and Wales to a second place finish behind Messiah.
NEWA Rookie Wrestler of Week
Isaiah Bellamy (Bozrah, CT), freshman , 197 pounds, Wesleyan
Bellamy went 4-1 in his first college tournament and took 2nd place at 197 pounds. He won his first 3 matches by decision including a 3-2 win over the No. 3 seed Brian Bulger of Cortland. In the semifinals, he pinned the No. 2 seed Jason Wright of Messiah in 2:55. Bellamy would go on and lose in the finals to returning All American Dave Welch of Roger Williams, 14-5.
Key results
2014 Roger Williams Invitational
At Bristol, R.I.
Team results – 1. Messiah (Mechanicsburg, PA) 174½, 2. Johnson & Wales (Providence RI) 169, 3. Roger Williams (Bristol RI) 155½, 4. Ohio Northern (Ada, Ohio) 140, 5. Wesleyan 97, 6. SUNY-Cortland 93½, 7. Coast Guard 85½, 8. Norwich University (Northfield, VT) 50, 9. Bridgewater State 32½, 10. WPI (Worcester, MA) 23½, 11. Mt. St. Vincent (New York City) 14½, 12. MIT (Cambidge MA) 4½
Individual results
125
Final: Lucas Malmberg (Messiah) dec. Bobby Jordan (Johnson & Wales), 12-3; (Consolation final: Cody Beaudette (Johnson & Wales) pin Hunter Harris (Messiah), 0:36; 5th place: Nick Barbaria (Roger Williams) dec. Stephen Jendritz (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), 4-3
133 pounds
Final: Nathaniel Giorgio (Coast Guard) dec. Paul Sughrue (Bridgewater State), 5-0; Consolation final: Carter Merecki (Roger Williams) dec. Dj Tirelli (Johnson & Wales), 13-4; 5th place: Cole Cochran (Ohio Northern) dec. James Slendorn (Mt St Vincent), 5-4
141
Final: Kaleb Loht (Messiah) dec. Michael Ferinde (Johnson & Wales), 4-2; Consolation final: Adrian Berry (SUNY-Cortland) won by medical forfeit over Matthew Pelton (Wesleyan); 5th place: Justin Cochran (Roger Williams) pin Matthew McAllister (Coast Guard), 0:35
149
Final: Joey Gaccione (Johnson & Wales) dec. Daniel Downes (Roger Williams), 11-0; Consolation final: Matt Barber (SUNY-Cortland) dec. Evan Morgan (Ohio Northern), 6-4; 5th place: Greg Cherry (SUNY-Cortland) dec. Michael Giorgio (Coast Guard), 5-0
157
Final: Larry Cannon (Messiah) dec. Andrew Stock (Johnson & Wales), 13-3; Consolation final: Gennar Feucht (Ohio Northern) won by tech fall over Tyler Herzog (Roger Williams), 17-1; 5th place: Christopher Siracusa (Wesleyan) won by medical forfeit over Nick Romyns (Roger Williams)
165
Final: Francisco Colom (Roger Williams) dec. Colt Lovejoy (Ohio Northern), 7-4; Consolation final: Colin Barber (SUNY-Cortland) dec. Taran Carr (Wesleyan), 14-8; 5th place: Sean Prell (Johnson & Wales) dec. Jacob English (Messiah), 13-9
171
Final: Josh Thomson (Messiah) dec. William Burns (Norwich), 9-3; Consolation final: Dan Ressler (Roger Williams) dec. Ryan Sblendorio (Wesleyan), 4-1; 5th place: Alec Golner (Roger Williams) won by medical forfeit over Tyler Gargano (Ohio Northern)
184
Final: Michael Labell (Johnson & Wales) pin Jeremy Bailes (Messiah), 2:54; Consolation final: Aaron Adkins (Ohio Northern) dec. Joe Albina (Roger Williams), 6-4; 5th place: Marc Wagner (Coast Guard) pin Pete Hailer (Johnson & Wales), 3:40
197
Final: David Welch (Roger Williams) dec. Isaiah Bellamy (Wesleyan), 14-5; Consolation final: Dillon Brancheau (Ohio Northern) dec. Jason Wright (Messiah), 8-3; 5th place: Kyle Koser (Messiah) dec. Andrew Cavanna (Johnson & Wales), 5-0
285
Final: Cody Lovejoy (Ohio Northern) dec. Lance Moore (SUNY-Cortland), 8-2; Consolation final: Isaiah Shipman (Messiah) pin Kyle Foster (Roger Williams), 6:51; 5th place: Frank Girolamo (Norwich) won by medical forfeit over Mark Howard (Coast Guard)
Jack takes third at Wolfpack Open
RALEIGH, N.C., Nov. 16 -- The collegiate wrestling season is close to beginning at the Division I level.
Danbury’s Kevin Jack, a freshman at North Carolina State, is off to a good start. Jack finished third at 141 pounds at the Wolfpack Open Sunday. Jack went 4-1 on the day. He dropped a 5-3 decision to Maryland’s Alfred Bannister in the semifinals but beat teammate Jamal Morris, 7-0, in the consolation final.
Sacred Heart's Mitchell goes 4-1 at Open
EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa., Nov. 16 -- Sacred Heart’s Casey Mitchell (South Windsor) went 4-1 with two pins at 157 pounds at the East Stroudsburg Open on Sunday. Teammate Kyle Brady (141) and Johnny Vrasidas (165) each went 3-2 in the tournament. Sacred Heart hosts its first dual meet of the year on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 5:30 p.m as the Pioneers host Franklin & Marshall for Pioneerpalooza.
Bozrah's Bellamy takes 2nd at Roger Williams to lead Wesleyan
New England Wrestling Association
Wesleyan University looked back to form of what we have come to expect from the Cardinals. On only two weeks of practice, they took fifth as a team at the Roger Williams Invitational and had five wrestlers earn medals.
New England Wrestling Association (NEWA) rookie of the week Isaiah Bellamy led the way as their only finalist for the Cardinals.
Bellamy, a freshman from Bozrah, posted three tight decisions on his way to the semifinals. He then came up with a second-period pin to earn a spot in the finals. There he fell by a 14-5 score to David Welch of Roger Williams, who earned All-America honors last March with a seventh-place finish at 184 pounds at the NCAA Division III championships.
Matt Pelton (141), Taran Carr (165) and Ryan Sblendorio (174) each finished fourth for Wesleyan. Chris Siracusa was 5th at 157. Pelton went 3-1 with his only lose coming to Loht of Messiah in the semifinal. Pelton won by a decision, a major decision, and a fall before Medically defaulting for 4th. Carr went 5-2 and Sblendorio went 4-2. Siracusa had a good win over Feucht of Ohio Northern in the quarters, 3-1. Feucht would come back to take 3rd as Siracusa finished fifth.
Coast Guard was seventh at Roger Williams Invitational over the weekend with 87½ points. The Bears look much stronger than this time last year and two-time All American Nate Giorgio looks back to form at 133. Giorgio went 4-0 including a tech fall win in the semifinals over Tirelli of JWU and a solid 5-0 win over Sughrue of BSU in the finals. Giorgio who has battled injuries the last few years definitely looks like he is going to be a major factor come March.
Marc Wagner (184) went 4-2 with 3 pins to take fifth. McAllister (141), Mike Giorgio (149), and Howard (285) each finished sixth for the Bears. McAllister went 4-2 with 3 major decisions wins on the day.
The University of Southern Maine went 3-0 over the weekend, winning dual meets over Springfield Tech, Yeshiva, and Western New England University, 25-13. Southern Maine’s Daniel Del Gallo at 149, Carl Luth at 157, Dan DeCarlo at 165, Jon Deupree at 184, and Sean Fagan at 197 all went 3-0 for the Huskies. Daniel Del Gallo beat Sean McAllister of WNEU, 7-2 in a match up of two top ranked wrestlers in the region…For WNEU, they were led by Frankie Weir (174) and Greg McCrystal (141) who both went undefeated on the day. McCrystal had a tech fall over Josh Fontanez of STCC and a major decision over Colin Sevigney of USM.
On Wednesday, Plymouth State edged out rival Norwich University, 23-22. The Panthers won six of the 10 bouts and got a crucial pin from Chris Perreault at 184 over Boone of Norwich in 1:04. Norwich got pins from Stewart at 133, Burns at 174, and Maldonado at 285 but it was not enough as the Panthers got big performances from Leek (141), who won by decision over Duncan 4-3 and Gerhold at 149 who held on to beat Garzon 14-9…Williams College beat Trinity College, 51-6, in the opening weekend for both teams. Chris Chorzepa at 184 and Anthony Brooks at 197 both got pins for the Ephs before Lucian Cascino turned around and got a pin for the Bantams at 285.
Rhode Island College wrested two regional opponents in Ithaca and Oneonta. The anchormen lost to No. 8 Ithaca, 23-9, but came back and beat Oneonta, 20-16. Ricondo Cole went 2-0 with a 4-3 win over Nick Wahba of Ithaca and a major decision over Nick Heck of Oneonta. Brandon Conrad at 184 also went 2-0. He beat Liam Korbul in overtime, 6-4 and then won by major decision over Vincent Provenzano, 11-3. Transfer Terrance Jean-Jacques had two big wins with a 5-1 decision over Dan Glinko of Ithaca and a 9-8 decision over James Bethel of Oneonta. RIC also got a 50-4 win over Daniel Webster during the week…Daniel Webster was led by 285 Steven Dwight who won 9-0 over Kevin Hernando of RIC.
The Roger Williams Invitational saw 12 teams in action including seven schools from the NEWA conference. It also included Messiah College, ranked No. 2 in NCAA Division III, and perennial strong programs nationally in Ohio Northern and Cortland University. Messiah won the tournament with 174½ points, followed by Johnson & Wales in second with 169, RWU with 155½, Ohio Northern, Wesleyan was fifth, rounding out the top five with 97 points.
Johnson & Wales was paced by its two champions -- Joey Gaccione (149) and Wrestler of the Week Mike Labell (184). Gaccione got the tournament’s Most Outstanding lightweight wrestler going 4-0 and beating Danny Downes of Roger Williams in the finals, 11-0. The major decision avenges a loss that Gaccione had to Downes at last year’s NEWA Duals.
JWU had three second place finishers and a total of five finalists. Mike Ferinde went 4-1 making the finals. In the finals, he faced returning national champion Kaleb Loht of Messiah. Loht got the best of the matchup of All Americans with a 4-2 win. JWU freshman standout Bobby Jordan went 4-1 with a pin before losing in the finals to national finalist Lucas Malmberg of Messiah. Jordan has now placed 3rd and 2nd at his first two college tournaments. Andrew Stock was the fifth finalist for the Wildcats, going 4-1 with 3 pins (round of 16, the quarters, and the semifinals).
JWU had five other place winners including Cody Beadette (125), who was third with a 5-1 record; DJ Tirelli (133), who was fourth by going 4-2 with four pins and Sean Prell (165) who took fifth. Pete Hailer (184) and Andrew Cavanna (197) were each sixth.
Roger Williams University had a good day but could not catch JWU or Messiah for a top two finish. The Hawks had three finalist and two champions. David Welch at 197 and Frank Colom at 165 both won their weight classes.
Colom has now won his first two tournaments of the year. He beat Sean Prell a conference finalist from a few years ago in the semifinals and Colt Lovejoy of Ohio Northern in the finals, 7-4. Welch dominated at 197 with two pins and two major Decision victories. It loooks like the move up a weight class for both wrestlers has been a good transition.
Danny Downes went 3-1 and took second place but could not keep up with Gaccione in the finals. Carter Merecki at 133 and Danny Ressler at 174 both took 3rd for the Hawks. Ressler had two nice wins over Sblendorio of Wesleyan and Merecki had two pins and two major decision wins. The Hawks had Foster (285), Herzog (157) and Albina (184) each take fourth. Herzog lost his first match of the day and came back to win seven in a row before falling in the 3rd place match to Feucht of Ohio Northern in his 9th match of the day. Barbaria at 125, Golner at 174, Cochran at 141 all came back for 5th and Romyns was 6th at 157.
Norwich who finished eighth at the Roger Williams Invitational were again led by Will Burns at 174 who had 4 wins were he again put up big points on his way to the finals. In the finals he lost to two-time All American Josh Thomson of Messiah 9-3. Frank Girolamo at 285 took 5th for the Cadets going 4-2 on the day.
Paul Sughrue continues to be a major bright spot for the Bridgewater State. He went 3-1 and took second place losing to Giorgio in the finals. Sughrue won by Tech and two major decision’s outscoring his opponents 46-3 heading into the final.
WPI seemed to be with out a large chunk of their starters and finished tenth in their first competition of the year. Steve Jendritz led the way at 125 taking 6th place for the Engineers. Zach Rahl at 157 and Andrew Tanner at 165 each won 3 matches on the day.
