Cortland Wrestlers Win ECWC Title; Five Red Dragons Heading to Nationals
February 25, 2002

 

Jared Myhrberg won the 197-pound weight class for the second straight year. He will bring a 29-0 record into the NCAA Div. III Championships March 9-10 in La Crosse, Wis.

BROCKPORT, N.Y. - Two Cortland wrestlers won individual conference titles and four others finished second to lead the Red Dragons to the team title at the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference (ECWC) Championships, hosted by the College at Brockport.

Cortland, ranked 13th nationally in Division III, finished with 128.5 points to wins its fifth league title overall and fourth in the last six years. Cortland also won titles in 1999, 2007 and 2010 and tied for first in 2008. The Red Dragons stunned nationally fifth-ranked Ithaca, which finished second with 127 points despite winning six of the 10 weight class individual titles.

Rounding out the team standings were 19th-ranked Brockport in third (105.5), 22nd-ranked Messiah in fourth (97), Oneonta in fifth (81.5), Lycoming in sixth (56.5), Oswego in seventh (36) and RIT in eighth (30.5).

Cortland earned five berths into the NCAA Div. III Wrestling Championships, which will be held March 9-10 in La Crosse, Wis.

Cortland junior Jared Myhrberg (Queensbury) and sophomore Brian Bistis (Whitehouse Station, NJ/Hunterdon Central) earned automatic berths to the NCAA Div. III Championships with individual weight class titles. Myhrberg repeated as the league's 197-pound champion with three victories, all by pin. In the finals, Myhrberg was tied 1-1 with Brockport's Paul Glover before recording a late takedown that led to the winning pin.

He improved to 29-0 on the season and is the first Cortland wrestler to bring an undefeated record to nationals since Stef Sair in 2005 (Sair placed fourth at nationals that season and finished 21-2). Prior to Sair, Tony Stewart entered nationals in 2002 undefeated and finished with a 27-1 mark.

Bistis went 3-0 with two major decisions and will take a 24-6 record into the national championships, which will be held March 9-10 in La Crosse, Wis. He defended his top seed with a 14-0 win over Oneonta's Brian Barry, a 15-2 win over fourth-seeded Victor Bracey of Messiah and a 3-0 win in the finals against second-seeded Alex Gomez of Ithaca. Leading 1-0, Bistis recorded a takedown with 10 seconds left versus Gomez to secure the victory in the finals.

Two of Cortland's second-place finishers received "wild card" berths to nationals in a vote of the league's coaches following the championship, and a third Red Dragon received a "wild card" berth from the NCAA Div. III Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 28.

Junior Troy Sterling (Uniondale) finished second at 157 pounds with a 3-1 record and earned a wild card spot for the second straight season. Currently 16-5, Sterling lost in the finals to Ithaca's Derek Brenon, 3-2, but won 11-8 in the "true second-place" match versus Oneonta's Dan Graff.

Junior Carl Korpi (Miller Place) earned his first trip to nationals after finishing second at 184 pounds with a 3-1 mark. He lost to Messiah's Tim Stewart in the finals, 11-3, but won 12-1 in a true second-place match over Lycoming's Tyler Cunningham. Korpi is 28-7 on the season.

Freshman Joey Giaramita (Elwood/John H. Glenn) finished second at 285 pounds and was named the league's first alternate for nationals by the coaches. He then received a spot in the national field when he was chosen by the NCAA Div. III Wrestling Committee as one of 10 national "wild cards" to round out the field at 170 wrestlers.

The third seed at 285 pounds, Giaramita lost his first match by one point to the sixth seed Russ Jones of Messiah, but rebounded to win his final four matches. He avenged the loss to Jones with a 9-2 decision in the consolation finals, then beat second-seeded John Wilkinson of Brockport in the true second-place match, 3-2. Giaramita is presently 22-8.

Junior Sean Kempf (Wantagh/MacArthur) also posted a second-place finish but did not earn an NCAA berth. Kempf, seeded sixth at 133 pounds, knocked off third-seeded Ben Mikac of Oneonta in the quarterfinals, 7-4, and second-seeded Kaleb Loht of Messiah in the semifinals, 10-5, before losing by pin to defending national champion Seth Ecker of Ithaca in the finals. Kempf finishes the season 20-10.

Freshman Lou Puca (Huntington) finished in third place at 174 pounds. Seeded third, he won his opening match before losing to the second seed in the semifinals. He pinned both of his opponents in the wrestlebacks, including a fall in 4:26 over fourth-seeded Jimmy Neal of Oneonta in the third-place match.

Cortland trailed Ithaca in the team standings, 127-124.5, prior to the true second-place matches. The Red Dragons, however, won all three of their matches in that round - victories by Sterling, Korpi and Giaramita - to pass the Bombers. Despite Ithaca's dominance with six titles, Cortland scored well with bonus-point victories. The Red Dragons' 26 individual victories at the tournament included six pins, two injury defaults, a technical fall and five major decisions.

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

1. Cortland - 128.5
2. Ithaca - 127
3. Brockport - 105.5
4. Messiah - 97
5. Oneonta - 81.5
6. Lycoming - 56.5
7. Oswego - 36
8. RIT - 30.5

WEIGHT-CLASS CHAMPIONS

125 - Stephen Hinton (Lycoming)
133 - Seth Ecker (Ithaca)
141 - Brian Bistis (Cortland)
149 - Seth Ecker (Ithaca)
157 - Derek Brenon (Ithaca)
165 - Nick Sanko (Ithaca)
174 - Jules Doliscar (Ithaca)
184 - Tim Stewart (Messiah)
197 - Jared Myhrberg (Cortland)
285 - Matt Mahon (Ithaca)

Most Outstanding Wrestler: Steve Hinton (Lycoming) - 125 pounds
ECWC Coach of the Year: Bryan Brunk (Messiah)

The 10 champions above advance to the NCAA Div. III Championships March 9-10 in La Crosse, Wis., along with the following six coaches' "wild card" selections:

NCAA Wild Cards
Troy Sterling (Cortland) - 157 pounds
Tyler Marlow (Brockport) - 125 pounds
Joey Hauser (Oneonta) - 149 pounds
Matt Cross (Messiah) - 174 pounds
Carl Korpi (Cortland) - 184 pounds
Paul Glover (Brockport) - 197 pounds

NCAA Alternates (qualify if any of the 16 qualifiers are unable to attend)
1. Joey Giaramita (Cortland) - 285 pounds
(NOTE: Giaramita was chosen as a national "wild card" on Feb. 28)
2. Ricardo Plummer (Messiah) - 165 pounds
3. Alex Gomez (Ithaca) - 141 pounds





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