WRE | #RIT duo sweep ECWC weekly awards https://t.co/Bf8pF8sPXL
— RIT Athletics (@RITathletics) March 4, 2022
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Senior Kaidon Winters and freshman Josh Harkless shared Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference wrestler of the week awards, Friday.
Wrestler of the Week: Winters was awarded the Most Outstanding Wrestler and Most Falls in Least Amount of Time at the NCAA Mideast Regionals last weekend at Elizabethtown, Pa. after dominating the 157-pound bracket with a 4-0 record with four pins and took the only two awards given at the event.
Winters needed a combined 15:45 to pin all four opponents with an average pin time of just under four minutes per match on his way to punching a ticket to the NCAA Championship.
Winters pinned Perry Maio (The College of N.J.) in 3:39 in the opening round and then pinned Tyler Newton (University of Pittsburgh-Bradford) in 2:06 in the quarterfinals on Saturday. On Sunday, Winters pinned Muhlenberg's Anson Dewar in the semifinals after 6:07 and then took the championship in 3:53 with a pin over The College of New Jersey's Matthew Sacco.
Rookie of the Week: Harkless took third after finishing 4-1 in the 197-pound bracket at the NCAA Mideast Regionals last weekend in Elizabethtown, Pa., as he advances to the NCAA Championship next weekend in his first year of eligibility.
Harkless started the NCAA Mideast Regionals with a pin over Scranton's Steve Murphy in 4:32 and then took a 4-2 quarterfinal victory over Kyle Hillermeier (N.J. City University) on Saturday. Harkless fell 5-1 to Quinn Haddad (The College of N.J.) in the semifinals on Sunday, but registered a pair of wrestleback wins to earn third, with the first over Ursinus' Jason Carter (6:59 fall) and then over Muhlenberg's Luca Colestock (5-1 decision).
The pair join senior Zach Stedeford and junior Austin Lamb at the NCAA D-III Wrestling Championship that begins Friday, March 11 at Alliant Energy Powerhouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.