Bulls Capture New York State Wrestling Championship

"A" Tournament Brackets

"B" Tournament Brackets

OSWEGO, NY - In the field of 17 teams, the University at Buffalo wrestling team captured their ninth New York State Wrestling Intercollegiate Championship, Saturday evening on the campus of Oswego State. The Bulls took first place by scoring 168.5 points followed by last year's champion, Army with 162.5 points. Mickey Moran, Nate Rock and Kevin Smith each captured the title of their respective weight classes.

Mickey Moran

In defense of his title at 184, Moran would once again face Nate Holley of Cornell. This year the tables would be switched with Moran as the top-seed and Holley as the second-seed. Moran and Holley wrestled a close fought match with Moran coming out the victor in a 3-2 decision and the 184-lb title.

Joining Moran as top-place finishers were Smith and Rock with both wrestlers capturing victories over Army wrestlers, which helped the Bulls win the team title. As the top-seed at 133, Smith captured this year's title with a 6-1 decision over second-seed Whit Dunning of Army. Rock followed Smith with the same outcome, a 6-1 decision over Ryan Mergen of Army.

Nate Rock

At 125, Dan Bishop took second place for the third straight year as he lost a 3-2 decision to Mike McInally of RIT. Freshman Mark Lewandowski made his first appearance in the New York State Wrestling Championships taking second place at 141. Lewandowski dropped an 8-2 decision to top-seed Casey Thome of Army. Jimmy Hamel also took second-place in his respective weight class. Hamel lost in a 5-3 decision to Richard Starks of Army in the 197-lb championship.

In the 149-lb championship match, Desi Green faced top-seed Matt Kyler of Army, ranked 12th in the latest USA Today/NWCA/InterMat Team & InterMat/NWCA/NWMA Individual Rankings and last year's 149-lb champion. Green dropped his decision to Kyler by the score of 5-1.

Kevin Smith

After losing his first match, John Martin-Cannon took third place at 157, with four consecutive victories in the wrestlebacks. In the bout for third place, Cannon captured a 3-1 sudden victory over Willie Horwach of Ithaca. At 165, Ron Majerus took fifth place by defeating Patrick Knight of NYU in an 8-2 decision. At 285, Brett Correll faced the same opponent he opened this weekend's competition against sixth-seed, Jabril Patterson of Brockport. Correll came out with another victory over Patterson, defeating him by a 10-3 decision and taking seventh place.

The Bulls will look to improve their 1-0 record in Mid-American Conference competition, as they travel to Athens, Ohio to take on Ohio University beginning at 12:00 pm.

Team Scores
UB 168.5
Army 162.5
Columbia 128.5
Ithaca 103.5
Cornell 74.5
Cortland 73
RIT 62.5
Nassau CC 59.5
NCCC 59
NYU 47
Oswego State 34.5
Oneonta 34
Brockport 28.5
Hunter 21
Wagner 11
Alfred State 5
Jamestown CC 1.5
Morrisville 1.5