Wrestling | 3/6/2018 3:18:00 PM
ROCHESTER, NY – Juniors
Connor Calkins (Almond, NY/Alfred-Almond) and
Joe Cutugno (Ventnor, NJ/Atlantic City), along with freshman
Kaidon Winters (Athens, PA/Athens Area), will represent the RIT wrestling team at the 2018 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships, which will take place on Friday, March 9 and Saturday, March 10 at the historic Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio. Baldwin Wallace University will serve as the host.
Session I begins on Friday at 11 a.m. with preliminary rounds one and two, along with consolation first round matches. At 6 p.m. Friday, Session II takes place with the championship quarterfinal matches and consolation second and third round bouts. On Saturday, Session III starts at 10 a.m. EST, with the championship semifinals, consolation quarterfinals, semifinals, and matches for third, fifth, and seventh place. Championship finals wrap up at 7 p.m. Saturday, with awards to follow.
A total of 180 participants will compete in the championships. Student-athletes qualified for the championship by placing top-three in their respective weight classes at one of the six NCAA regional tournaments held on Feb. 23, 24 and 25. RIT competed in the Mideast Regional, placing sixth overall out of 19 teams.
All three student-athletes will be making their first NCAA Championship appearance. It is the second consecutive year that RIT is sending three student-athletes to the national tournament.
Calkins, who joined the team at midseason after transferring in from Division I Binghamton University, enters the national tournament with a 12-4 record at 285 lbs. He earned the NCAA berth after placing third in his weight class at the NCAA Mideast Regional on Feb. 23-24 at Ithaca. Calkins was also runner-up at the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Championships. He will face No. 4 seed Isaiah Bellamy of Wesleyan University in the opening round.
Cutugno, one of RIT's captains, placed third at 184 lbs. at the NCAA Mideast Regional at Ithaca to earn his spot in the national championship. Cutugno had to win his final four matches, all in the consolation bracket to gain the prestigious NCAA berth and improve to 24-9 on the season. He was RIT's lone champion at the RIT Invitational on Dec. 2. Cutugno was named RIT Male Athlete of the Week on Dec. 4 and was third in his weight class at the ECWC Championships. He will face Issac Morales of Johns Hopkins in the opening match on Friday.
Winters, who wrestles at 157 lbs., enters the national tournament with a 41-9 mark on the season with a program-record 21 pins. He is just the second Tiger in program history to reach 40 wins in a season and is one victory shy of tying RIT's single-season mark of 42, set by Luke Baum in 2008-09. Winters qualified for the national championship, after earning runner-up honors at the NCAA Mideast Regional. He is a five-time Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference Rookie of the Week and two-time RIT Male Athlete of the Week. Winters was also runner-up in his weight class at both the RIT Invitational and ECWC Championship.
Winters will face No. 7 Kyle Hatch of Wabash University in the opening round. Winters is RIT's first freshmen to compete at the national championship since Mike McInally in 2006-07.
RIT has had a long and proud history at the national tournament, as 16 different individuals have earned 25 All-American honors, including national champions Darrell Leslie (1983) and Matt Hamill (1997, 1998, 1999). RIT tied for 14th at the national tournament in 2014-15. In 1998, the Tigers had their best overall finish, placing tied for eighth nationally.
