A full house at the West Gym saw a close encounter for the Binghamton University wrestling team as the Bearcats dropped an 18-15 decision to American University on Friday evening.
The teams went into the last heavyweight match level on points at 15-15, but No. 1-ranked American University heavyweight Ryan Flores topped No. 19 freshman Nick Gwiazdowski 8-1 in the most crucial encounter of the match.
Binghamton lost three matches by the small margin of 5-3, hard-fought losses that fell in line with the team’s overall performance.
“It was a really close affair,” BU head coach Pat Popolizio said. “There were three matches that, score-wise, we were very close to winning, but it did not work out for us.”
Despite losing the match, Binghamton did get impressive performances from multiple wrestlers. No. 4 149-pound junior Donnie Vinson defeated his opponent, American’s Kevin Tao, by a convincing score of 7-1.
“[Vinson] is doing a great job right now. He is ranked fourth in the country and his focus must be to compete for the national title and that’s what we are priming him to do now,” Popolizio said. “His mindset has got to be such that he can win a national title this year and that’s where his focus has to go from now until the national tournament.”
No. 10 157-pound senior Justin Lister suffered his second consecutive defeat as he fell 5-3 to No. 3 Ganbayar Sanjaa in what was the most highly anticipated match of the night.
“[Lister] is wrestling the best competition in the country right now,” Popolizio said. “The thing with him is that he has got to get focused on a couple of things that are affecting his performance. I think once he gets a few things adjusted, like his weight management, he would be in a great position for winning a national title this year … He is going to make a few changes outside the room and I think he will be fine [come postseason time].”
Even after the loss, Popolizio said he believes that his team is still in good shape and is heading into the most crucial part of the season with the right mindset.
“I think we are right on track,” he said. “Last year this time we were wrestling our best and it was too early in the season to be peaking. [As a result] we focused a little bit on that and pushed things back so we can peak a week or two later than we did last year. I feel that we are on track to do that because we are not wrestling our best right now, and I do not want us to be at our best until another two weeks from now.”
With three dual meets remaining, Popolizio said he is calling on his lesser-known wrestlers to step up to the plate and lead the team to the finish line.
“Our next three dual meets in general we wrestle three really good teams,” he said, referring to Bloomsburg University, No. 23 Hofstra University and No. 25 Old Dominion University. “It’s going to come down to guys who are going to have close matches who can win one of these matches. We need someone new to step up and win some individual matches for us so that we can win these next three dual meets.”
The Bearcats’ match against Bloomsburg is set for 7 p.m. Thursday in the West Gym.