SOURCE: web.archive.org

February 22, 2005

All Ten Bulls Place at New York State Championships
Despite a season-high 172 points, Buffalo wrestlers finish second to Army

ONEONTA, NY - Two first-place finishes and three second-place finishes wasn't quite enough to lift the University at Buffalo wrestling team to its ninth New York State Collegiate Championship at the 36th annual event held at SUNY Oneonta on Saturday.

Buffalo also added three third-place finishes and two fifth-place finishes to rack up 172 points, a season-high, but still 23 points behind Army, who wrapped up its 10th championship after garnering four individual championships at the meet.

Sophomores Mark McKnight (McDonald, PA/South Fayette) (125 pounds) and Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/Orrville) (133 pounds) each wrapped up titles for Buffalo.

McKnight, ranked 18th in the nation by WrestlingMall.com, pinned Oswego's Walter Sosnowski 43 seconds into the second period and beat No. 2 seed Jeff Sato of Columbia, 5-3, to earn his first New York State Championship. McKnight is now 21-11 on the season, having lost to 11 Top 20 wrestlers.

Budd wrapped up his first New York State Championship by beating Army's Tony Severo, 9-5, in the semifinals and No. 1 seed Matt DeLorenzo of Columbia, 3-1, in the finals. Budd, who claimed his first collegiate tournament championship with the win, is now 16-14 on the season.

Sophomores Patrick Lloyd (Middletown, NY/Valley Central) (149 pounds) and Jake Blowers (Johnstown, NY/Broadilbin-Perth) (165 pounds) and freshman Mickey Moran (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler Area) (174 pounds) each took second-place for the Bulls.

Lloyd beat the Merchant Marine Academy's Danny Song, 8-2, to reach the finals, but fell to the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler, Army's Phillip Simpson with seven seconds left in the second period.

Blowers pinned No. 2 seed Oswego's Frank Petrucci with 32 seconds left in the second period, but was pinned by Army's Chad Marzec with one second remaining in the finals. Still, the 3-1 mark at the tournament put Blowers' season record at 11-10. Since earning a spot start at the Buckeye Duals, Blowers has responded with a 4-3 mark including three pins.

Moran, who came into the tournament 5-17, beat Army's Scott Ferguson, 11-2, in the semifinals, but fell to Cornell's Luke Hogle, 12-3, in the finals to cement a 3-1 mark at the tournament.

Freshman Dana Gingerich (Spring Grove, PA/DeLone Catholic) (141 pounds) and juniors Garrett Hicks (Chautauqua, NY/Chautauqua Lake) (184 pounds) and Harold Sherrell (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) each finished third.

After losing his semifinal match, Gingerich rebounded with two decisions, ending his tournament with 7-1 decision against Columbia's Dean Kinports in the third-place match. On Friday, Gingerich, who went 3-1 at the tournament, pinned Kinports 12 seconds into the overtime period.

Hicks lost in sudden victory overtime, 10-8, to tournament champion Dan Miracola of Cornell in the semifinals, but rebounded by pinning Brockport's Dan Glover 55 seconds into the consolation semifinals. Hicks closed the meet with a 9-4 decision over Oswego's Jon Jagatnarian, ending a 4-1 tournament to up his season record to 20-14.

Sherrell lost in the semifinals to Brockport's Willie Weiss, 4-2, but earned a tech fall against Jamestown Community's David Bush, 20-2 and Columbia's John Grando, 10-1, in the third place match. Sherrell is 19-13 this season.

Freshman Scott Rendos (Brockway, PA/Brockway) (157 pounds) and sophomore Jeff Parker (Foxboro, MA/Foxboro) each took fifth place in their weight classes.

UB is next in action as it travels to Ohio University next Sunday for a 1:00 pm Mid-American Conference dual meet.