Wrestling Opens Season at Ithaca Invitational

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Western New England University wrestling team opened its 2019-20 campaign at the Ithaca Invitational, which was held on Friday and Saturday at Glazer Arena.

Western New England finished tenth in the 14-team field with a team score of 57.5. Johnson & Wales won the team title with a score of 147, followed by Baldwin Wallace (131.5) and Ithaca (123.5).

Three Golden Bears placed in their respective weight classes – senior John Boyle (Rowley, Mass.), who finished third at 184 pounds, sophomore Jeffrey Suschana (Somers, Conn.), who finished fifth at 165 pounds, and junior Ryan Monteiro (Wilbraham, Mass.), who placed sixth at 157 pounds.

Boyle dropped his opening bout, a 5-4 decision to Baldwin Wallace freshman Luke Salmon, who won an Ohio state title in high school. Boyle then six straight matches in the consolation bracket to take third place. Boyle was able to avenge his earlier loss to Salmon in the consolation quarterfinals, defeating the freshman in a 7-3 decision. He then won a 5-3 decision over Corbin Bunsold of Otterbein in the semis before topping Nicholas Munsch of JWU 10-6 in the third place bout.

Monteiro reached the semifinals of his bracket with wins over Hiyuma Nagai of Springfield College (8-2 decision), Tyler Podlosky of NYU (15-2 major decision) and Darius Joyce of Johnson & Wales (3-1 decision). Monteiro suffered his first loss of the tournament, an 11-4 decision to Sean Lyons of NYU in the semis, before eventually injury defaulting to sixth place.

Suschana won his first three bouts to reach the semifinals, defeating Rafiq Conway of American International College (fall, 6:20), Ky'ell Roper of Johnson & Wales (technical fall, 18-0) and Conan Wilson of Greensboro (3-2 decision). Suschana lost a 9-3 decision to Oswego State's Christian Gramuglia in the semis, before going 1-1 in the consolation bracket en route to fifth place.

Up Next
Western New England opens its dual meet slate next Friday night (11/8) at 7 p.m. against Norwich University at the Alumni Healthful Living Center.