Body Bar Invitational
Bulls Cap Weekend at Body Bar Invite
11/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
ITHACA, NY - Three place winners highlighted a long Saturday of wrestling for the Buffalo Bulls, as the team faced a loaded bracket at the Body Bar Invite, hosted by Cornell. Mark Lewandowski finished second at 165 pounds, Max Soria finished fourth at 125, and Blake Roulo finished sixth at 149.
After an exciting win against Michigan on Friday, Soria rode that momentum to a fast start, pinning Binghamton's Mike Sardo and beating Ithaca's Max Cohen 12-7. In the quarterfinals, he went into extra periods but beat Drexel's Michael Gomez 4-2 (TB1) before facing Kent State's Nic Bedelyon, who pinned him in the first period to end Soria's championship bid. In the third place match, there was a flurry of offense on both sides, but Soria came up short against Lock Haven's Robert Rehm, 10-7.
Roulo, another Friday winner, won his first-round match against Ithaca's Kevin Collins 6-3 before drawing top seed Donnie Vinson of Binghamton, who won an 11-2 major decision. In the consolation bracket, Roulo topped teammate Clay Reeb 6-1 and Columbia's Chad Ryan to earn a spot in the fifth place match. He was beaten by Cornell's Craig Eifert 8-3 to take sixth overall.
The final place winner and highest overall finisher, Lewandowski found success in the 165 bracket despite being new to the weight class. After a 10-3 win over Adam Fondale in the preliminary round, he doubled up Army's Coleman Gracey 12-6 to earn a tough match in the semifinals against number two seed Nick Sulzer of Virginia. Lewandowski was able to grind out a 4-3 win to earn a spot in the finals against Drexel's Joe Booth - the top-seeded 165 wrestlers - who wound up winning a defensive 3-1 contest in the finals.
In the overall team standings, Buffalo finished 10th out of 12 teams. Now wrapped for the weekend, the team will rest up over the holiday break before heading to another tough national tournament, the Penn State Open, on Dec. 4.
Tournament Records
Soria: 3-2
Sean Walton: 0-2
Justin Farmer: 1-2
Dan Gormley: 0-2
Chris Conti: 1-2
Roulo: 3-2
Josh Micek: 0-2
Clay Reeb: 1-2
Wally Maziarz: 1-2
Kris Duge: 0-2
Matt Dehney: 1-2
Lewandowski: 3-1
Zach Ward: 1-2
Jake Waste: 1-2
Justin Heiserman: 0-2
Tyler Peter: 0-2
