WRE | Wrestling pair shares weekly ECWC honors https://t.co/4gwNcUcbOe
— RIT Athletics (@RITathletics) December 9, 2021
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Senior Kaidon Winters and freshman Josh Harkless shared Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference wrestler of the week awards, Thursday.
Winters shared ECWC Wrestler of the Week with Ithaca's Eze Chukwuezi, while Harkless shared ECWC Rookie of the Week with Cortland's J.C. Cardenas. Winters and Harkless each finished first in their respective weight classes last weekend at the RIT Invitational on Dec. 4. It was the second time this season that Winters and Harkless were honored by the ECWC.
Wrestler of the Week: Winters, the top-ranked wrestler in the nation at 157 pounds, earned the Tony Wallace Award as the tournament's most outstanding wrestler while leading the No. 17 Tigers to the RIT Invite team title on Dec. 4 in a field of 16 teams.
In the premier match of the tournament, Winters retained his No.1 national ranking by defeating the second-ranked wrestler in the country, John Carroll's Luke Reicosky, in sudden death by a 3-1 score.
Winters started the day with a 26-second pin over Malachi Harvey (Delaware Valley). In the second round, he needed just 21 seconds for his second fall against Ciaran Edwards (Wesleyan). In the quarterfinals, the RIT senior pinned Justin Smith (Alfred State) in 2:24, and then scored an 11-0 major decision in the semifinals against Tommy Dell`Aera (Worcester Poly) to reach the finals.
Rookie of the Week: Harkless pinned second-seed Jhordyn Innocent (Oneonta State) in 5:25 in the finals to take the 197-pound title while leading the No. 17 Tigers to the RIT Invite team title on Dec. 4 in a field of 16 teams.
Harkless won his semifinal match with a 3-0 decision against Jesse Kanatzar (John Carroll). In the quarterfinals, He scored an 8-0 major decision over Noah Kennedy (Oneonta State), before beginning the day with a 7-1 decision over Thoren Berg (Norwich).
RIT wrestling next travels to Louisville, Ky. for the 2022 NWCA National Duals on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 6-7.