Despite winning two of the first three matches on Saturday night, the Binghamton wrestling team fell to No. 6 Cornell, 33-6. But the Bearcats went right back at it on Sunday morning, earning third overall in the 2013 New York State Intercollegiate Championship in Ithaca, N.Y., with a title by heavyweight Tyler Deuel and three additional third-place finishes.
With early wins by junior 125-pound David White and freshman 141-pound Dylan Caruana, the Bearcats held a solid footing on Saturday night against higher-ranked Cornell, with a score of 6-5. The wins by White and Caruana extended both of their records on the season to 5-2.
BU led until a decisive overtime win from Cornell quickly switched the momentum. BU junior 149-pound Joe Bonaldi fell to No. 13 Chris Villalonga with a final score of 4-2 in overtime of the fourth bout, which resulted in an 8-6 Cornell lead.
From then on, Cornell dominated the rest of the matchup, winning six consecutive matches and ultimately handing the Bearcats their first dual-match loss of the 2013-14 season. Despite the score, Binghamton redshirt senior 197-pound Cody Reed put on a promising display in the ninth bout against No. 13-ranked Jace Bennett, where he later rallied and took a late lead to win, 4-2.
Cornell totaled eight wins out of 10 matches, extending its undefeated streak against BU to 7-0 and solidifying its team’s 750th victory overall.
Despite the loss, the Bearcats bounced back the following day with a big third-place finish out of 24 teams in the 2013 New York State Intercollegiate Championship, hosted by Cornell in the same location. Binghamton’s taking third was a strong improvement from the team’s seventh-place finish the previous year.
BU’s tournament performance was highlighted by Deuel, who finished first in his weight class after going 4-0 with two technical falls and two pins. Along with Deuel’s spectacular performance, seven other Bearcats also finished as place-winners in the tournament.
Freshman 133-pound Nick Tighe went 5-1 and both junior 184-pound Caleb Wallace and senior 197-pound Cody Reed went 4-1, earning each of the three solid third-place rankings in the tournament.
Three additional Bearcat wrestlers finished fourth, including Bonaldi, White and Caruana. Caruana finished with five wins, and Bonaldi and White finished with three wins apiece.
Cornell, the host of the tournament, finished in first, earning the team title with a total of 207 points. Hofstra followed in second with 157 points, Binghamton earned the third-place slot with 139 and Army (136.5) and Columbia (134) rounded out the top five.
The Bearcats are next set to compete at the Journeymen Duals in Albany on Saturday. BU is scheduled to take on North Carolina first at 9:15 a.m., followed by a matchup with NC State at 11:15 a.m. The team will wrap up its competition against George Mason at 1:15 p.m.