Sickness slows down start of wrestling season
Shane Pastor, '13 | Staff Reporter
Issue date: 11/6/09 Section: Sports
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On Oct. 19, Morrisville wrestling was approved to join the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference. The team will join SUNY Cortland, Oneonta, Oswego, Brockport, Ithaca, Lycoming, Messiah and The Rochester Institute of Technology. The conference was founded in 1991 and includes some of the best wrestling talent in the Northeast, according to the conference website. "This conference is a middle of the road conference on a national scale, and it will make completion more interesting," Thomas said.
Athletic Director Greg Carroll said he was especially excited for the invitation because 2009 marks the inaugural season that the team can qualify for NCAA tournament play. "This is an exciting time for the program and the youth of the team will benefit from this move into a more competitive conference," Carroll said.
On Oct. 31, the team competed in their season opener at the University of Scranton Duals, finishing fourth. Sam Taylor, a 157-pound freshman, recorded a victory against Scranton, along with freshman Spencer Brady and junior Joseph Lanza. The team is looking for the same production at their next match, with the emergence of young talent such as sophomore Justin DeLamothe at 125-pounds, and sophomore Wheeler Brunschmid at 184-pounds. Both wrestlers recorded wins at the Scranton Duals as well.
"It felt good to get out there and support my team with a win, and with the team being so young it was great to get the better of two schools at the end of the day," Taylor said. "I plan on being the best in the conference at my weight class, and I know the rest of the guys are focused on that same goal. We trained hard in the offseason to get to where we are, and we want to dominate."
Thomas hopes that the youth of this team will mature to a level that they are able to compete with the best of the Northeast. The team will be relying on captains Wheeler Brunschmid, Spencer Brady, Justin DeLamothe, and Nathan Cross for leadership this season. The team is practicing 10 hours a week, aside from individual training. When asked about the Scranton Duals, Thomas said, "We were not as healthy as we wanted to be, so next week will hopefully be a better judge of our direction this season. Our goals for this season are winning as much as possible, and working hard. Winning and working hard is what we're all about."
The team will return to the mat this Saturday, Nov. 7 at the Ithaca College Bomber Invitational. The match will start at 9 a.m.