Injuries and growing pains encompassed an improving men’s wrestling team this past weekend at the R.I.T. Invitational in Rochester, N.Y. The Cardinals finished the day with only nine points and a disappointing 17th place finish in a field of 18 teams.

Early season injuries to both captain Chris Robichaud ’06 (an All-New England award winner last season) and assistant captain Dan Delalla ’07 have dampened the team’s spirits. These standout wrestlers have been sorely missed in the 157- (Delalla) and 174- (Robichaud) pound weight classes, where their talents helped lift the Cardinals in previous years.

Only 10 wrestlers made the trip with Coach Drew Black and without Robichaud and Delalla, victories were few and far between. But there were some bright points as 141-pound Dan Ziegarnik ’08 wrestled five matches and finished with a 3-2 record. Two of the other 10 wrestlers turned in a .500 record at the end of the day: Jeremy Stuart ’08 at 174 pounds and Mike Lima ’08 at 197 pounds.

While the results fail to show it, many from the team believed they improved over the weekend.

“I know I was wrestling better, I finished 1-2, but I am wrestling at a higher level than I was two weeks ago,” said Tomi Uyehara ’08.

Many on the team see their season as a gradual build-up to the New England Championships held this year at Wesleyan at the end of the season. Consequently a mediocre showing in an early season tournament fails to worry the athletes.

“It’s fun and we will get better, you could tell we were improving this weekend it just didn’t show in our record,” Uyehara said.

The team will certainly have to show improvement in the coming weeks if the athletes have serious aspirations for New Englands; this weekend-long tournament in February will showcase the entire area’s top competition all after a trip to NCAAs.

The Cardinals will use the earlier winter months to prepare, yet only one more dual match at R.I.C. appears on the schedule before a month long break around the holidays.

“An entire month off will really help us at this point,” said Stuart. “While it seems like a long time to be away from competition in the middle of the season, it will allow us to rest and most importantly for all our injured guys, to mend.”

The return of their veteran captains to the mat along with improved performances from other wrestlers will lift the Cardinals as they enter into the middle of their season. The team returns to competition almost immediately after break and must be in top physical and mental shape. The North/South duals at Ursinus College, a dual match against Trinity, and another Ursinus tournament all come within eight days of each other from Jan. 7 to the 14.

Later in January the team will once again wrestle three times in eight days with a dual match at Bridgewater State College on Jan. 22, away against the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on Jan. 24, and home against Johnson and Wales University and the University of Southern Maine on Jan. 29.

Very little rest and relaxation comes for this team after the holiday season and the athletes must be ready to go all out for the remaining two months of January and February.

“We try to focus on one match at a time and build gradually, so right now our focus is R.I.C. this Friday,” Stuart said. “But everyone has in the back of their minds the tough schedule ahead and will work hard over break to stay in shape and be prepared.”