RIT wins team title at 2018 Citrus Open
SOURCE: www.ritathletics.com
December 30, 2018

 


FT. LAUDERDALE, FL - The RIT wrestling team won the 2018 Citrus Open held at the Broward County Convention Center on Saturday, Dec. 29 and Sunday, Dec. 30. Led by individual championships from Chris Horton (Athens, PA/Athens Area), Kaidon Winters (Athens, PA/Athens Area) and Dempsey King (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford), the Tigers scored 180 team points to defeat 12 other schools.

RIT, who entered Sunday's action third, had 10 wrestlers place in the main brackets, while two more grapplers won the Warrior consolation brackets. RIT defeated runner-up Ferrum College, the number 23 team in Division III, who had 169 points. UNC Pembroke and New York University were third and fourth, respectively.

"This tournament was all that our team needed it to be," said RIT head coach Jason Bovenzi. "It was a great opportunity for our team to continue to come together as a group and compete against some of the best wrestlers in the country. We are able to compete against many nationally-ranked wrestlers and beat quite a few of them."

Horton won all four of his matches over the weekend to claim his first tournament title at 133 lbs. He recorded a win by fall over Dominic Devine of John Carroll and defeated Levin Englman of Ferrum in the quarterfinals, 7-4. Horton defeated Noah Becker of St. John's in the semifinals, 6-4, before clinching the title with a 7-2 victory over William Crisco of NYU in the championship match. Horton is now 15-5 in 2018-19.

Winters, who is ranked second in Division III at 157 lbs., moved to 17-0 in 2018-19 with 10 pins after five wins over the weekend. On Saturday, he earned back-to-back pins over Francis Corvino of Trinity and Noah Supsic of Ursinus, both in the first period. Winters knocked off Casey Allen of Cornell College, 7-0 in the quarterfinals and pinned Andrew Burgette of Liberty in the semifinals. Winters clinched the title by recording a 12-0 major decision win over Dylan Dwyer of NYU in the championship bout.

King improved to 13-3 in 2018-19 after winning all five bouts over the weekend at 165 lbs. King began his journey towards a title with a 15-0 technical fall win over Colin Honderd of Cornell College and won by decision over Sam Gross of John Carroll and James Murdoch of NYU Saturday. King earned a crucial win in overtime over Rodney Shepard of UNC Pembroke, 10-8 and clinched the title with a 7-3 victory over fifth-ranked Andrew Tolbert of Ferrum in the championship match.

Connor Calkins (Almond, NY/Alfred-Almond) garnered runner-up honors at 285 lbs. He rolled in all three of his matches Saturday, defeating Justin Pursley of Trinity by technical fall and earned a pin in just 1:26 over Josh Stasek of John Carroll. Calkins knocked off Jacob Lill of NYU, 18-3 to pick up his second win by technical fall in the quarterfinals. Calkins defeated Alveno Matthews of Ferrum, 7-0 in the semifinals, before falling to second-ranked James Bethel of Oneonta. Calkins is now 14-5 this season.

Joe Cutugno (Ventnor, NJ/Atlantic City) finished second at 184 lbs. On Saturday, he earned a 7-2 win over Hunter Strickland of UNC Pembroke and beat Evan Frank of Trinity, 7-4 in the quarters. Cutugno earned a fall over Benard Fox of NYU in the semifinals before dropping a close 3-2 decision to Brandon Sloop of UNC Pembroke in the championship bout.

John Donohue (Smithtown, NY/Hauppauge) finished fourth at 174 lbs., recording a pair of falls as part of a four-win weekend. Sam Weinger (Blooming Grove, NY/Washingtonville) finished fifth at 197 lbs., while Alex Prunoske (Safety Harbor, FL/Clearwater Catholic) was sixth at 133 lbs. Shane Murphy (Mt. Olive, NJ/Mt. Olive) also placed, finishing seventh at 141 lbs., while Zach Stedeford (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) recorded an eighth-place finish at 149 lbs.

Colby Hall (Deposit, NY/Deposit) enjoyed a tremendous day Sunday, winning all four of his matches in the consolation bracket, including three by fall at 149 lbs. Morgan Seller (Lyons Falls, NY/South Lewis) also won the consolation bracket at 174 lbs. with four victories on Sunday. Joe Brillo (Skaneateles, NY/Skaneateles) (141 lbs.) won five matches over the weekend, while Chris Dean (Long Branch, NJ/Long Branch) picked up four victories at 125 lbs. Isaiah Ocasio (Vineland, NJ/Vineland) (141 lbs.) and Owen Albanese (Canastota, NY/Canastota) (285 lbs.) won two matches apiece.


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