Wrestling | 12/2/2017 4:53:00 PM
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT wrestling team finished fifth overall out of 11 teams at the 2017 RIT Wrestling Invitational, held at the Gordon Field House on Saturday, Dec. 2. RIT earned 99 team points, while tournament champion Worcester Polytechnic Institute won with 150.5 points. Wesleyan's Isaiah Bellamy was named the Tony Wallace Award Winner as the Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Junior captain
Joe Cutugno (Ventnor, NJ/Atlantic City) was the individual winner at 184 lbs. for the Tigers, as he won all four matches on the day. He opened the day with a 12-6 win over Ethan Di Renzo of WPI before garnering a 10-3 victory over Christian Hipsher of John Carroll in the quarterfinals. Cutugno outlasted Dan D'Agostini of Scranton, 8-6 in overtime in the semifinals, before posting a 5-2 win over Dan Wensley of WPI in the championship bout. Cutugno improves to 8-4 on the season.
First-year grapplers
Zach Stedeford (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) and
Kaidon Winters (Athens, PA/Athens Area) garnered runner-up honors at their weight classes. Wrestling at 149 lbs., Stedeford went 4-1 on the day with two wins by fall and another by technical fall, as he improved to 11-4 on the season. Winters won his first three matches of the tournament, all by fall, before dropping a 9-1 decision to Tyler Marsh of WPI in the championship bout at 157 lbs. Winters is now 18-4 in 2017-18 with 10 of those wins coming by pin.
Freshman
Alex Prunoske (Safety Harbor, FL/Clearwater Catholic) finished 3-2 at 125 lbs., earning a fifth place finish. He earned one win by fall and another by a major decision, while moving to 9-5 this season. Classmate
Matt Cicco (Wheatfield, NY/Niagara-Wheatfield) was also 3-2 at 197 lbs. to finish fifth, while
Adam Green (Dansville, NY/Dansville) won three matches, including one by fall to finish sixth at 165 lbs.
Junior
Coty Lutz (Forestport, NY/Adirondack) (157 lbs.) went 3-2 with a pair of pins on the day, while freshman
Trevor Snow (Dexter, NY/General Brown) was 3-3 with a fall at 174 lbs.
Alex Rawlings (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) (133 lbs.),
Cole Murphy (Syracuse, NY/Westhill) (149 lbs.), Temuulen Enkjhargal (285 lbs.),
Owen Albanese (Canastota, NY/Canastota) (285 lbs.) and
Chris St. Denny (Bridgeport, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) (285 lbs.) all picked up a pair of victories on the day.
Zarek Thomas (Waterford, NY/Albany Academy) (149 lbs.),
Colby Hall (Deposit, NY/Deposit) (165 lbs.),
Jakob Warner (Wayland, MA/Wayland) (165 lbs.) and
Wyatt Morris (Eaton, NY/Morrisville-Eaton) (285 lbs.) added a win each.
Overall, RIT won 40 bouts, including nine by fall.
The Tigers wrap up the fall semester by making the quick to take on The College at Brockport in a dual meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday evening. RIT will also head to the Citrus Open in Florida on Dec. 29-30.
