Jonas Powell, Photo Editor
It was a quick turnaround for the wrestling team as the squad headed to Williamstown, Mass. hot off their solid win against Springfield. Wes faced an absolute battle, as two out of three teams in the quad-meet were nationally ranked. The competition was stacked with a total of seven wrestlers ranked nationally within the top ten—five from Ithaca and two from Williams. The hosting team, Williams, remains at 10th in the tournament rankings and Ithaca sits one spot behind in 11th.
SUNY-Oneonta made up the fourth participant of the quad, falling to both Williams and Ithaca, but beating Wes in the neck-and-neck match of the tournament. Williams topped Oneonta (36-19) and defeated Wes (43-10). However, Ithaca pulled through as the top team and dominated the tournament, beating the Ephs (34-3), the Red Dragons (39-3), and the Cardinals (36-8).
Wes first went up against Ithaca on Saturday. Nick Taylor ’19 (157 lbs) had a standout win with a sudden victory decision over senior Eamonn Gaffney. Taylor took Gaffney through three full periods only to end in a tie. The two wrestlers then went into a sudden-death period for one minute, where the first to score a takedown won the match. Last season, Gaffney qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championship meet and claimed the top spot in the 149-pound weight class at the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Championships. Taylor’s success over this veteran wrestler was a promising highlight in the Ithaca match.
Taran Carr ’16 (174 lbs) also picked up some points against Ithaca, defeating his opponent with a technical fall in 6:11. Together Taylor and Carr collected the only points for Wes against the tournament’s star team.
Carr’s fire on Saturday refused to fade from match to match. Needless to say, he did not slow down for Wes’ second encounter of the day. The Cards faced the Ephs in the afternoon after the loss to Ithaca. Carr picked up six points against Williams, which added to Chris Siracusa ’17’s (157 lbs) four points and brought the final score to 43-10. Siracusa won by major decision and Carr pinned his opponent in 2:48.
After a long day of battling the top wrestlers in the country, Wes showed no fatigue. The squad’s last match of the day turned out to be a back and forth brawl. Carr secured a 3-0 record with his win against SUNY-Oneonta, pinning his opponent in 2:02. The match started close, with Zach Murillo ’19 (125 lbs) dropping six points to the Dragons and first-year Dylan Jones (133 lbs) picking the six right back up to follow. Jonathan Oh ’19 (141 lbs) lost by major decision, bringing Oneonta ahead (10-6). Carter Armendarez ’18 (149 lbs) won by decision, pulling the Cardinals back to within one point. Siracusa (157-lbs) followed Armendarez’s lead, winning by major decision and rocketing Wes into the lead (13-10).
Roy Forys ’19 (165 lbs) gave his opponent a difficult time and held out a pin for over five minutes until he finally went down at 5:41. Oneonta crawled back into the lead at 16-13. Carr (174 lbs) rolled in at this point with his 2:02 pin and six points, putting the Cards back in front by three. Oneonta won by forfeit in the 184-pound weight class, tallying six more points and regaining the lead at 22-19. Isaiah Bellamy ’18 (197 lbs) wrestled with unmatchable fervor to carry the Cards back ahead. He pinned his opponent in 1:24, securing six team points for a 25-22 advantage. After a grueling rollercoaster of contests, Oneonta came out on top with Wes’s forfeit in the 285-pound weight class.
The team walked away without a win, but Carr left with an undefeated record. However, spotlighting individual performances is uncharacteristic of this Redbird team. Carr could only boast about the grit of his teammates.
“I just want to say that I’m exceedingly proud of the heart that my team showed despite the many adversaries we faced that day,” he said. “I know we will come back stronger in the week to come.”
The wrestlers are back on home mats this weekend on Sunday, Feb. 14, in the Silloway Gymnasium. Wes will host Lycoming College and SUNY-Oswego in a tri-match. Both Oswego and Lycoming have fallen to Springfield this season, a team Wes walked over in their last home match. Oswego also lost to Lycoming in early January by a tally of 37-5. According to these stats, competing on home turf won’t be the Cardinals’ only advantage heading into the weekend. The action starts at noon and the blood, sweat, and definite lack of tears will continue until Wes walks out with two victories.