New York State Intercollegiate Championships
Lewandowski Wins NYS Title, Bulls Finish Fourth
11/17/2012 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
ITHACA, NY - Mark Lewandowski won the 165 pound title at the New York State Collegiate Championship Saturday, whileAndrew Schutt and Justin Heiserman placed second. As a team, the Bulls finished fourth out of 18 teams. Host Cornell won the team title.
Lewandowski was unstoppable all day long, recording four straight technical falls to earn a spot in the final at 165. The state title was the first in the senior's career, and his second straight title in his tournament season. He beat Binghamton's Adam Lepkowsky 16-1, John Fitzsimmons of NYU 15-0, Evan Connors of Ithaca College 15-0 and beat Jonathan Conroy 16-0 in just the first period of the semifinal round. He wasn't able to cap the day with a fifth tech fall, but still controlled from start to finish in a 12-6 win over Army's Paul Hancock.
Schutt was equally dominant, pinning his way to the finals of the 141-pound bracket before losing to Mike Nevinger of Cornell in the title bout. Mike is the older brother of current Bulls Chris Nevinger. Schutt pinned Matt Watson of the Merchant Marine Academy in just 32 seconds, and then put fifth seed Brian Bistis of Cortland on his back in a time of 3:28. To earn a title fight, he pinned Army's Connor Hanafee just as the first period came to a close.
In one of the team's best early season storylines, Heiserman continues to perform well in tournament play, going 3-1 with his only loss coming to top seed Paul Snyder of Hofstra. In the first round, he beat Chris Manna of Columbia 5-2, then won an injury default in the third period of his match against Brockport's Cole Tristram. In the semifinal, he eeked out a 1-0 win over Army's Stephen Snyder. Now in the past two tournaments, the sophomore is 6-2 with a third place finish and a second place finish.
A handful of Bulls placed in the deep tournament, including Max Soria at 125, Wally Maziarz at 157, Tony Lock at 184, and Angelo Malvestuto at 197.
Soria won his first round match before losing 7-5 in overtime. In the consolation bracket, he won three matches and secured fifth place with a 16-1 tech fall over Hunter Wood of Army. Maziarz was shocked by Sean Sercu of Rochester Institute of Technology in the very first round, getting pinned late in the first round. Rather than give up, he fought tough through the consolation bracket and earned a well-deserved third place finish. He won six straight matches, earning the team bonus points with a tech fall and a pin along the way, before beating Irvan Buck of Niagara County Community College 4-2 in the final.
Lock won his first round bout over NYU's Jakub Pawlowski before he fell to Cody Reed of Binghamton. He won two straight matches before losing to top-seeded Collin Wittmeyer of Army. In the fifth-place match, he won 13-4 over Columbia's Drew Rebling. Malvestuto also finished fifth, losing only to a pair of Cornell wrestlers in the tournament. He won three straight matches to make the 197 pound semifinal round, but lost to eventual champion Jace Bennett. He then lost again to Cornell's William George in sudden-victory overtime, 3-1, but beat Army's Bryce Barnes in the fifth-place match.
The New York State Collegiate Tournament continues tomorrow with the 'B' tournament, featuring redshirts and unattached wrestlers from New York schools. The team will take a break after the weekend for Thanksgiving, but will return on Dec. 2 for the Nittany Lion Open at Penn State.
