Wrestling | 11/3/2017 11:07:00 PM
PROVIDENCE, RI -- The RIT wrestling team opened the 2017-18 season by placing ninth out of 16 teams at the Ithaca Invitational on Friday, Nov. 3 and Saturday, Nov. 4. The Tigers recorded a team score of 66.5 points. Stevens Institute of Technology was the team champion with 142 points, just ahead of Johnson & Wales University (138 points) and Ithaca (129). All three teams are ranked in the top-10 in the NWCA National Poll.
Freshman Zach Stedeford advanced to the finals at 149 lbs., winning four matches. After a first-round bye, he defeated Marvin Cunningham of Johnson & Wales with a fall at 1:06. Stedeford defeated Benjamin Forsman of Norwich 13-3 in a second round match and advanced to the semifinals after opponent Dylan Van Sickell of Springfield College was disqualified in the quarterfinals. Stedeford continued his winning ways by defeating Demetri D'Orsaneo of Ithaca in the semifinals by a score of 4-1. Stedeford has his excellent run halted by Baltazar Gonzalez of American International College in the championship.
Making his collegiate debut, Kaidon Winters finished fifth at 165 lbs., recording a 6-2 mark. Both of his losses in the championship and consolation rounds were against Nick Velez of Ithaca, who is ranked fifth nationally. Two of Winters' wins came by fall and one came by technical fall. In the fifth place match against Adrian Gonzalez of Johnson and Wales, Winters found himself trailing 6-0 heading into the third period before rallying to tie the match. In the third overtime Winters recorded a near-fall to earn the win.
Freshman Matt Cicco finished fifth overall at 197 lbs., with a 4-3 mark. Cicco defeated Tanner Nielsen of Ithaca College with a fall at 4:42 in his second-round match, before falling to Khamri Thomas of Johnson & Wales in the semifinals, 5-4. Cicco won two matches in the consolation rounds, advancing to the fifth-place match, which he won by medical forfeit.
Junior co-captain
Joe Cutugno (Ventnor, NJ/Atlantic City) finished 3-2 at 184 lbs. He defeated Tyron Dudley of Greensboro College with an 11-1 major decision in his first match and went on to beat Severian Burgos of Springfield College 8-7 in his second-round match. He lost to Jordan Bushey of SUNY Oswego, ranked seventh nationally in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Cutugno would earn a win by major decision in the consolation rounds.
Junior co-captain
Cole Murphy (Syracuse, NY/Westhill) also went 3-2 at 149 lbs., winning his opening match, while earning a pair of wins in consolation round, including one by pin. Senior
Andrew Flanagan (Holley, NY/Holley) went 2-2 at 125 lbs., while
Ezekiel Thomas (Waterford, NY/Albany Academy) (157 lbs.) and
Coty Lutz (Forestport, NY/Adirondack) (157 lbs.) won matches in their respective weight classes.
First-year grappler Andrew Chase was 3-2 at 149 lbs. with one win by fall and two by technical fall, while classmates Shane Murphy (141 lbs.), Zarek Thomas (149 lbs.), Adam Green (165 lbs.), Trevor Snow (174 lbs.) and Owen Albanese (285 lbs.) all earned their first collegiate victories. Snow also took Troy Seymour of Oswego, ranked seventh nationally, the distance in a 5-3 defeat.
RIT is back in action next Saturday, Nov. 11 at the University of Scranton for the Electric City Duals.
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