The Wesleyan wrestling team welcomed thirteen adversaries to campus this past weekend, Feb. 25-26, playing host to the 2012 New England Wrestling Association (NEWA) Championships.  Eight Cardinal grapplers had already secured All-New England honors as the weekend’s action was drawing to a close, but the team title was still up for grabs with just one match for Wesleyan remaining.  Up stepped senior 197-pounder Luke Erickson. Erickson, who was seeded fifth coming into the weekend, cruised to the bracket finals with a 3-0 record. The finals pitted Erickson against top-seeded Phil Ernst of Roger Williams, to whom Erickson had already handed defeat in the semifinals. Critical first-and third-round takedowns propelled Erickson to a 4-1 victory and Wesleyan to the team title, with the Cardinals edging Springfield by a count of 126-125.5

Also taking home divisional crowns were Kyle Roosa ’13 and Jefferson Ajayi ’13 at 174 and 184 pounds, respectively. Roosa won his final bout by a score of 13-8, while Ajayi cemented himself as divisional champ with a 3-0 shutout victory in the finals. The first-place showing was the second consecutive for Roosa and the first for Ajayi. Howard Tobochnik ’13 and Joey Schwartz ’14 supplied runner-up finishes for Wesleyan at 149 and 133, respectively. The precocious freshman pair of Ben Schwartz ’15 at 125, and Ryan Sblendorio ’15 at 165 locked up All-New England status with fifth place finishes, while Nick Scotto ’13 took home All-New England honors for his sixth place finish at 141 pounds.

The three individual titles tie the Wesleyan record set in 1982, and the team title is the program’s second, with the first triumph dating back to 1984.  The NEWA championship weekend signifies the final action for the team as a whole, and the end of a historically successful season. However with the NEWA titles under their belts, Erickson, Roosa, and Ajayi will head to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on March 9-10 for the NCAA Division III Championships. The trio will look to become All-Americans, the status which is given to the top eight wrestlers in each weight class.

Despite the individual accolades he garnered over the weekend and the potential for him to become an All-American in the upcoming D3 Championships, Ajayi’s attention was squarely focused on the team’s accomplishments as he reflected on the title.

“It was a huge win for the team,” he said. “We had gone into the preseason ranked #1 (in New England), and basically had to deal with huge issues such as injuries. When everyone was healthy and ready to compete, we really came together. We saw the opportunity to make history, and (we) did it,” Ajayi said. Ajayi emphasized the selflessness of his teammates, making specific reference to the performances of Tom Oddo ’12 and Alex Cannon ’14, two grapplers who were forced to shift weight classes midseason in order to fill in gaps created by injuries.

Ajayi noted that it had been 28 years since the last and first Wesleyan NEWA title. Not a single 2012 Cardinal wrestler was alive in February 1984. Ronald Reagan was U.S. president. Michael Jordan had never set foot on a basketball court in an NBA uniform. But for a thrilling and well-deserved championship such as the one earned by the 2012 Wesleyan wrestling team, few can deny it was worth the wait. The Cardinals will return a stable of talented and battle-tested grapplers to the mats and ride a tidal wave of momentum into the 2012-2013 campaign. The 2011-2012 season couldn’t have ended any sweeter, and the program’s future couldn’t be brighter.