Ephs Finish 3rd at RIT Invitational
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Ephs made another strong showing yesterday at the highly competitive RIT Invitational, finishing third out of fourteen teams. Placing wrestlers in six different weight classes, the Ephs finished ahead of two nationally ranked opponents.
Ethan Cohen, the junior Tri-Captain, went 4-2 on the day and finished fifth place in the 125 pound weight class. Cohen won two of his first three matches by pin and one by major decision, before losing a close 8-6 decision to the nation’s number sixth ranked wrestler, Mike McInally of RIT, in the semifinals. Cohen then went on to pin Chris Alvanos of Wesleyan in the fifth place match.
At 141 pounds, sophomore Dylan Rittenburg gave another strong performance finishing in fourth place. After giving up only two points in his first two matches, Rittenburg fell 6-4 to the number nine nationally ranked Damian Rose of Thiel College in the semifinals. Rittenburg then went on to beat Garrett Feldman of Coast Guard 8-3 in wrestle-backs to earn a spot in the third place match.
Sophomore Carl Breitenstein also had an outstanding tournament coming in second place at 157. On his way to the finals, Breitenstein took down the top seeded and previously nationally ranked Nate Bachmann of RIT, in a decisive 10-3 victory. In the finals, Breitenstein lost a tough 4-1 decision to Mike Martini of Rhode Island College.
Nate Shippee, another sophomore, just coming off of football season finished fourth place at 184 pounds. Shippee defeated his first two opponents 12-0 and 8-3, respectively, before falling to the tournament’s number one seed, Jose Cruz of Morrisville State College, 11-6 in the semifinals.
Tim Kiely, a freshman also just out of football, finished fifth place at 285. Kiely dropped his first match to the number three seed, Tim Lambert of John Carroll University, 4-1. However, he then rallied back, winning three straight matches, including two pins, to take fifth place overall.
Sophomore Drew Gatewood took 5th place at 184. He pinned Igor Babuskin (RIT) in 4:46 and pinned Travis Samuel (MIT) in 2:16 before beating No. 5 Matt Harmon (John Carroll), 7-5, to place top 6 at the tournament.
Head coaches Dan DiCenzo and Raphael Vega, were again pleased with their team’s performance, especially their underclassmen, “Foster, Paulish, McCarthy, [and] Kiely are wrestling very tough as freshmen and are scoring a lot of points in the tournament to help us place as high as we did this weekend.” At the lighter weight classes, Breitenstein, Rittenburg and Cohen, continue to lead the team, beating tough opponents and placing well in competitive tournaments.
The Ephs face off next at home with Norwich University on December 5.
RIT Invitational - Final Team Standings:
1) Rhode Island College - 121.5
2) Wilkes - 117
3) Williams - 96
4) SUNY Oswego - 89.5
5) Baldwin Wallace - 87
6) John Carroll - 79.5
7) Wesleyan - 79
8) RIT - 74
9) Thiel - 67.5
10) SUNY Morrisville - 47.5
11) MIT - 41
12) Waynesburg - 25
13) U.S. Coast Guard Academy - 22
14) Case Western Reserve - 20.5
