Wrestling | 2/25/2017 7:40:00 PM
YORK, PA – Senior
Tory Cain (Ontario, NY/Wayne), junior
Sam Weinger (Blooming Grove, NY/Washingtonville), and sophomore
Dempsey King (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) earn spots in the NCAA Championship, as the RIT wrestling team placed sixth overall out of 19 teams at the 2017 NCAA Mideast Regional Championship hosted by York College on Saturday, Feb. 25 and Sunday, Feb. 26.
The top three finishers in each weight class advanced to the 2017 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championship, which will take place on March 10-11 in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Cain and Weinger earned runner-up honors in their respective weight classes, while
Dempsey King (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) placed third to earn the NCAA berths. It will be Cain's second trip to the national championship, as he earned All-American honors with a fifth place finish in 2015. King and Weinger will each be making their first trip to the NCAA Championship.
"This was a very successful weekend for our program as a whole," said RIT wrestling head coach
Jason Bovenzi. "There is great satisfaction in the fact that we qualified three wrestlers from a region that has substantial depth and more ranked wrestlers than any region in the country."
Cain went 4-1 over the weekend at 174 lbs., improving to 13-2 on the season and 91-41 in his excellent RIT career. Cain opened the weekend with a pin in 2:01 over Michael Kashuba of Muskingum before defeating Justin Morel of Wilkes, 6-0. Cain would earn a hard-fought 2-0 win over Zach D'Apolito of Scranton in the quarterfinal. He then used a reversal with 20 seconds left in the third period to outlast Sonnieboy Blanco of Washington and Jefferson in the semifinals, 3-2 to clinch the NCAA berth before taking a medical forfeit in the championship match against Ben Swarr of Messiah.
Weinger recorded a 3-1 record over the weekend at 285 lbs. He defeated Brian McNamara of Case Western Reserve, 6-1 before earning a 5-3 win over Nicholas Kumburis of Washington and Jefferson in the quarterfinals. Weinger knocked off top-seeded Nino Majoy of Heidelberg by pin fall in 2:43 in the semifinal Sunday to earn a NCAA berth. Weinger is now 21-7 on the season and 77-36 in his RIT career.
King went 2-1 on Saturday and won his final three matches on Sunday at 157 lbs. to earn the NCAA Tournament berth. King started the weekend by pinning Landon Lohr of Waynesburg in 1:44 before suffering a tough 10-8 overtime loss to Rocco Russo of Oswego State, 10-8. King earned a win in the consolation round over Austin Bonacci of Thiel. On Sunday, King took the long road towards his first NCAA berth, earning a 5-3 win over Hadyn Swartwood of Lycoming before reaching the third place match by shutting out Jeff Hojnacki of Messiah, 2-0. In the third place match, with a trip to the NCAA's on the line, King was victorious, 8-3 over Hunter Neely of Washington and Jefferson. He is now 28-6 this season and 50-15 in two seasons at RIT.
Senior
Nicholas Greenquist (Spring Lake, NJ/St. Rose) just missed duplicating King's feat, going 4-2 on the weekend at 184 lbs. with a chance at a NCAA berth, but fell just short in the final match. He started the weekend with a 20-5 technical fall win over Kyle Beard of Washington and Jefferson before falling to Dillen Decker of Heidelberg, 10-6. Greenquist moved on in the consolation by earning a tough 8-7 win over Isaiah Watson-Kirksey of Mount Union. On Sunday, Greenquist earned an 8-5 win over Dan D'Agostini of Scranton and 10-6 win against Zeckary Lehman of Baldwin Wallace. In the third place match, Greenquist fell to Derek Beitz of Messiah, 9-4. He finished 25-14 this season and went 79-43 in his RIT career.
Jake Sepor (Stafford, NY/Pavilion),
Isaiah Ocasio (Vineland, NJ/Vineland), and
Tim Baumer (Avon, NY/Avon) all went 1-2 on Saturday. Sepor won his first round match over Andrew Hoover of Case Western Reserve, 12-6 before falling to Sal Corrao of John Carroll and Brockport's Nate Walker. He ends his 2016-17 season with a 24-4 record and four-year RIT career at 87-54.
Ocasio will end his season at 133 lbs. with 14 wins, while Baumer picked up a pin in his opening round match at 197 lbs.
Andrew Flanagan (Holley, NY/Holley) and
Evan Vershay (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy) also competed over the weekend for the Tigers.
More information for the NCAA Tournament will be available at
www.ritathletics.com in the coming days.
