Wrestling in four matches in the past four days, Wesleyan summoned all of its endurance to finish the dual-meet season by dominating Western New England (44-3), breaking even with Oneonta St., ranked 25th nationally, and losing a heart-breaker to Williams (19-18) in a quad-meet at Western New England College on Sunday.

“We really fought and held our own against a squad like Oneonta that is incredibly talented,” said Jeremy Stuart ’08. “I would have liked to take down Williams though.”

Despite the loss to their conference rival, the mat men preformed extremely well with the “Big Three” of Dan deLalla ’07, Josh Wildes ’08, and Stuart going 3-0 in their individual bouts. Now ranked second in New England and sixth nationally at 157 pounds, deLalla won his three matches by a combined score of 50-24, while Wildes, the fifth-ranked 133-pounder in New England, had a pin and two major decisions.

Stuart came up with a monster pin against Western New England to seal the crushing victory, and no opponent even wanted to try and take down freshman phenomenon Dan Bloom ’10 as he won his three matches, two by forfeit.

Just three days earlier, on Feb. 1, the Cards faced WPI at Freeman Athletic Center. In front of a substantial group of onlookers, the Cards thoroughly thrashed the visiting Polytechnic Institute 22-15.

“I don’t even think they have a mascot,” said Tomi Uyehara ’08.

Impressive performances came from deLalla, who was ahead 24-9 before winning on a technical, and Zach Rolfe ’10, who won 11-2. John Gottfried ’09 pitched in a 5-2 win.

Rolfe and Gottfried are both having tremendous seasons and have helped boost the Cards’ confidence and improve their record in the second half of the season. Rolfe did not see much action at the beginning of the season but, since filling in for classmate Greg Hurd ’10, who was diagnosed with mononucleosis, Rolfe has been on a tear, going 7-1 at 165 pounds and making a name for himself on the team as a future star.

A quiet competitor, Gottfried has been a model of consistency all season long, wrestling to a 12-10 overall record and a solid 7-5 dual-meet record at 197 pounds. While deLalla and others have received much of the attention this year, wrestlers like Rolfe and Gottfried have played huge roles in the burgeoning success of the team.

The Cards now enter crunch time in their campaign, with the NECCWA Championships at Roger Williams University on Feb. 17 and 18. In this meeting of the finest teams in New England, the Cards hope to push through the first day and place several wrestlers on the second day of competition.

Front-runners to place this year are deLalla, Wildes, and Stuart, who have crushed their opponents all winter and will showcase the best they have to offer at Roger Williams. For a competitor such as deLalla, who has become the face of Wesleyan wresting, this is the last opportunity for another trip to NCAAs.

Before the NECCWAs, look for a few of the lesser-known Cards to take the mat in the NECCWA Junior Varsity Championships at Springfield College this Sunday.