ROCHESTER, N.Y. - RIT opens the 2022-23 regular season on Saturday (Nov. 5) at the Ned McGinley Invitational hosted by King's College.Here are six things you need to know about the Tigers:
About Last Season…
The 2021-22 Tigers finished a program-best fourth at the NWCA National Duals which includes top teams from around the country, and finished a program-best seventh at the NCAA Championships. RIT finished the season with a 6-5 record in dual matches, and took home team titles at the Ned McGinley Invitational, King's College, RIT Invitational, and the New York State Collegiate Championships.
Senior
Kaidon Winters was named the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference Wrestler of the Year, while Winters, senior
Zach Stedeford, and
Austin Lamb, earned All American Honors. Head coach
Jason Bovenzi was named the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference Coach of the Year.
While Winters and Stedeford have graduated, the Tigers return several high achievers for Bovenzi's seventh season.
Quality Qualifiers
Lamb and Harkless, who each qualified for the 2022 NCAA Division III Championships, return this season, as does fifth year
Christopher Horton, who qualified for the NCAA Championships in 2020.
Lamb finished eighth at 165 lbs. last season to earn All-American honors. The accounting major finished second in the NCAA regionals and, won a New York State Collegiate title. Lamb excelled in the classroom, earning National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar All-American honors for the third time.
"Lamb is a junior who is looking to improve upon his All-American finish from 2022 and has deservedly lofty goals," says Bovenzi.
Harkless was one of the top freshmen in Division III last season, earning a spot on D3Wrestle.com's All-Freshman Team. He was named to RIT's "All-Rookie" team, and led the ECWC in Rookie Wrestler of the Week awards with five. After finishing third in the 197 lb. division at the NCAA regionals, Harkless went 1-2 at the national tournament, falling to top seed and eventual national champion, Cody Baldridge (North Central).
Horton will compete this season after placing seventh in regionals in the 141 lb. weight class in 2021-22. Horton won his weight class at the Ohio Intercollegiate Open and finished runner-up at the RIT Invitational and Ned McGinley Invitational. Like many of his teammates, he was named a Scholar All-American.
"Harkless and Horton have been focused throughout the off-season and look to build off of last years' experience," says Bovenzi.
Back for More
Four team members came up a bit short in their pursuit of reaching the Division III National Championship tournament last season, three of whom return in 2022-23. Besides Horton, sophomore
Michael Glynn III and junior
Colby Giroux return after narrowly missing out on reaching the Division III Championship last season.
Glynn finished fifth in the 149 lb. weight class at regionals last season, and went undefeated at the Ned McGinley Invitational to take the title. The New Hampshire native was also named Scholar All-America in 2021-22.
Giroux finished sixth at NCAA Regionals in 2021-22 at 184 lb. weight class, and was New York State Champion last season while being named Scholar All-America.
All Shapes and Sizes
In a sport where the pounds on the scale determine who you will face, RIT runs the gamut regarding height and weight. On the high end, the Tigers have 6'3", 240 lb.
Nate DeGroff and on the other side of the scale, four team members will compete at the 125 lb. mark. Seven RIT wrestlers will compete at 149 lbs., the most common weight class listed on the Tigers roster.
Earning Their Stripes
Bovenzi is looking forward to more wrestlers stepping up in the coming season. In particular, he mentioned sophomores
Lee Rubin,
Logan Patterson, and juniors
James Ost, and
Ben Dougherty as wrestlers who have had impressive results in previous seasons. Bovenzi also says that sophomores
Josh Post,
Liam Strouse,
Clay Rankin, and
Nate DeGroff will "add firepower" to the lineup. All four placed in the top three at last season's Mideast Futures Tournament, with Post winning the title at 141 lbs.
There are 13 first-year wrestlers on the Tigers roster this season, hailing from four states and in seven weight classes.
"With other established returners and a talented freshman class, RIT wrestling looks to continue to establish its place at the top of Division III wrestling," says Bovenzi.
Schedule
RIT has what Bovenzi describes as a "challenging schedule" of 11 intercollegiate events followed by NCAA regionals and championships.
The Tigers begin their regular season on Saturday (Nov. 5) at the Ned McGinley Invitational, followed by a trip to Cleveland on November 13, for the Ohio Intercollegiate Open. The tigers will compete at the Empire Conference Championships and the Waynesburg Duals on November 19.
RIT returns home on Saturday, Dec. 3, when they host the 56th annual RIT Invitational at the Gordon Field House for the final event of 2022. The Tigers start 2023 with a bang when they compete at the NWCA National Duals in Louisville, Ky., on Jan. 6-7. It is a highlight of the schedule for Bovenzi, as it allows the team to test itself against top teams from around the country.
Later in the month, RIT will host the New York State Intercollegiate Open at Gordon Field House on Jan. 21. Less than a week later, the Tigers will have Senior Night as they host Oswego on January 26.
The Tigers finish up the regular season with four events on the road, including the Kenneth D. Ober Memorial Tournament in Pennsylvania (Jan. 28), a dual meet at Brockport (Feb. 1), the Tiger Duals in Oneonta (Feb. 11), and the Mideast/South Futures in Allenton, Penn. (Feb. 19).
The postseason begins with the NCAA Mideast Regional Championship on Feb. 24-25, with qualifiers then advancing to the NCAA Championships in Roanoke, Va., on March 10-11.
