Wrestling | 1/21/2017 7:18:00 PM
OSWEGO, NY – The RIT wrestling team placed sixth at the 2017 Empire College Wrestling Championships, held at Max Ziel Gymnasium on the campus of Oswego State University Saturday. RIT had a team score of 61 points, while Ithaca won the team competition with 210.5 points.
Jonathan Haas of The College at Brockport was the ECWC Most Outstanding Wrestler. RIT was without a few key grapplers for the meet. Senior
Tory Cain (Ontario, NY/Wayne) and sophomore
Dempsey King (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) both finished as the runner-up in their respective weight classes.
Making his season debut and first collegiate appearance on the mat since earning All-American honors at the 2015 NCAA Championships, Cain excelled to earn runner-up honors at 174 lbs. Cain, the number two seed, opened by defeating Mark Milisci of Oswego State, 2-1. In the quarterfinals, Cain pinned Ralph Cazzetta of Oneonta State in just 49 seconds and earned a berth in the finals with a 3-0 over Trevor Hoffmier in the semifinal. In the championship bout, Cain battled top-seed Colin Barber to a 4-4 draw, but Barber earned the winning point on riding time for the 5-4 decision.
King, the No. 2 seed at 157 lbs., rolled through his first three matches to get to the championship. He defeated Anthony Fano by major decision, 14-3 before pinning Michael DeCapua in 3:38. King cruised to a 12-3 win over Adrian Berry in the semifinal before falling to top-seed Bobby Dierna of Cortland State, 17-7. He is now 18-4 this season.
Senior
Nicholas Greenquist (Spring Lake, NJ/St. Rose) placed fourth at 184 lbs., going 2-2 on the afternoon. As the No. 4 seed, Greenquist advanced to the semifinal before falling to top-seed Jordan Bushey of Oswego, 3-2. He defeated Lantze Lange of Oneonta, 8-3 in the consolation semifinal to advance to the third place match.
Freshman
Joe Lupisella (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) went 3-2 to place fifth overall at 174 lbs. After losing his opening match of the day, Lupisella would win two straight decisions and earn a medical forfeit victory in the fifth place contest.
Conor Wilkins won a pair of matches at 125 lbs., while
Wyatt Morris (Eaton, NY/Morrisville-Eaton) picked up a win at 285 lbs. for the Tigers.
The Tigers return to action on Wednesday, as The College at Brockport comes to Clark Gym for a dual meet that gets underway at 7:05 p.m.
