Facing tough, national caliber competition this past weekend at the R.I.T. Invitational, the wrestling team placed 11th out of 15 teams. Represented in the tournament were the 10th, 13th, 17th, 23rd, and 27th nationally ranked teams in Johnson & Wales, Cortland State, Wilkes University, Thiel College, and John Carroll University, respectfully.

Despite the talent level of the competition, the Cards believe that facing superior opponents early in the season is beneficial, both in showing the younger players the steep learning curve of college wrestling and in giving each wrestlers valuable, intense experience.

“Our team will compete against a number of the best individuals and teams in the nation,” said Head Coach Drew Black prior to the tourney. “[They will gain] valuable preparation and match experience toward the ultimate goal of becoming a New England Champion, National qualifier, All-American, and National Champion.”

Though this experience is important, especially early in the season, the team didn’t achieve all it hoped to

“We wrestled well, but did not get the end result we wanted,” said Assistant Coach Chris Eldridge.

Fourteen wrestlers represented the team at R.I.T. with Steve “Soup” Campbell ’06 leading the way in the 285-pound weight class. Campbell turned in a 5-2 overall record, good for a fifth place finish out of 22 entries in the heavyweight weight class.

Dan Zeigarnik ’07 also had a successful day, winning two matches while losing one by a score of 11-8 to the eventual champion and another 9-8 to the sixth place finisher of the 149-pound weight class.

“We all wrestled really hard in a very competitive tournament,” Zeigarnik said. “It was a great learning experience for a lot of the young guys on the team.”

Black, in turn, applauded Zegarnik’s performance.

“Dan was moving extremely well and executed some fantastic take downs,” he said. “Dan is beginning to really put his wrestling together.”

Another strong performance came from Alex Segal ’09 who defeated a returning All-New England competitor in the second round 3-1. Additionally, Don Torrenti ’08, though losing in the first round to a nationally-ranked Cortland opponent, displayed promising effort and skill—exhibiting a unique tenacity and always pulling down and in on his opponents.

The team collectively gasped as its sensational rookie Dan Bloom ’10 was slammed to the mat and endured a torso injury during the second round, having pinned his first round opponent. Bloom had to default out of the tournament.

Having held down the 125-pound weight class thus far this season, the Cards worried about losing their newest star. Tomi Uyehara ’08, however, was confident that Bloom would bounce back.

“[Bloom is] one tough cookie and should be wrestling as soon as Friday,” Uyehara said.

While Bloom fell to injury, captain Dan deLalla ’07 did not attend the meet because he was taking the LSAT.

The Cardinals now move into the dual-match season as they play host to Rhode Island College in the Bacon Field House this Friday at 7:30 p.m. With a large helping of strong competition already under the belts, the wrestlers believe they are more than prepared to face all their dual-match competition.

Bloom is expected to wrestle Friday, solidifying a squad that hopes to remain healthy the rest of the way. No one is more aware of the negative effects of injuries to this team more than deLalla who missed all but four matches last season with an upper-body injury. In addition to Bloom, deLalla will return Friday to supply strong emotional leadership as well as phenomenal wrestling.

“This should be a great dual with key match-ups all the way through,” Black said.