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Budd, Hicks, Cerminara Win New York State Titles

Mark Budd

The Bulls, who placed seven wrestlers at the tournament, came to the frindge of the championship the year, making a mad charge through the finals, winning three of their first four championship bouts, but thanks to a stalling call in the third period of the heavyweight finals, the Bulls not only lost the match, but the tournament, finishing with 134.5 points to Army's 152. Cornell (109.5), Columbia (97) and Ithaca (91) rounded out the top five in the 17-team field.

Still, Buffalo earned three individual championships to increase its tournament record to 57 champions, as senior 197-pounder Kyle Cerminara (Lewiston, NY/Lewiston-Porter) and junior 133-pounder Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/Orrville) won their second titles and senior 184-pounder Garrett Hicks (Chautauqua, NY/Chautauqua Lake) wrapped up his first.

Kyle Cerminara

The NWCA/InterMat/NWMA's seventh-ranked Cerminara dominated en route to his 30th straight win and sixth tournament title of the season, as he routed Army's Charles Martin, 14-5 in the finals. His earlier matches were much the same story, as he posted a 21-5 technical fall of Hunter's Brian Scher to begin the tournament. He followed with a 16-4 rout of Cornell's Taylor Moore and reached the finals on the strength of a 17-6 whitewash of Ithaca's Nick Calandrino.

Fifteenth-ranked Budd ran his record to 28-3 overall, winning an 8-2 decision against Columbia's Eric Amstutz and then winning a hard-fought 8-7 decision in the finals against WrestlingReport.com's Atlantic Region's 17th-ranked Frank Baughan in the finals. He posted an 18-1 technical fall of RIT's Julian Nichols to advance to the quarterfinals where he took a 9-6 decision from Cornell's Nick Bridge.

Garrett Hicks

Hicks, who is in the midst of a career-best 10-match winning streak won a 10-9 decision against Hunter's Terry Madden in the finals. To begin the tournament, Hicks beat Cornell's Mike Moore, 6-2, then pinned Alfred State's Justin Stewart at the 4:43 mark to earn a bid to the semis, where he pinned Ithaca's Robert Stubbs in 5:47.

Senior Harold Sherrell (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) finished second, losing a heartbreaking 3-2 decision in the finals to Division III's sixth-ranked Pat Bennett of Brockport, thanks to a disastrous stalling call in the third period. He beat Oswego's Jake Taylor, 9-2, in the first round, then beat Cornell's Matt Pollock, 2-1, in the quarterfinals and then earned his 73rd career win to enter the top 15 in UB's career history as he beat Army's Michael Sprigg, 2-0, to reach the finals.

Junior Pat Lloyd (Middletown, NY/Valley Central) beat Cortland's Jason Chase, 6-1, in the quarterfinals and then beat Oswego's Dane LaPlante, 2-1, in overtime to reach the 149-pound finals, where he fell to Army's Patrick Simpson, 13-2.

Two Bulls, 141-pound senior Cliff Smith (Merrick, NY/Calhoun) and 157-pound junior John Cummings (Bay Shore, NY/Bay Shore), took third to contribute to the team points. Smith, who has entered the starting 10 for the first time this year, responded with four wins, beating Nassau Community's Al Iaquinta, 4-1, in the first round before posting a 14-1 win against Oswego's Phil Gordon in the quarterfinals. He fell to Cortland's top-seeded Paul LaBlanc, 5-1, in the semis, but rebounded with a 7-5 win over Columbia's Dean Kinports and an 8-2 win over RIT's Luke Baum in the third-place match.

Cummings also earned four wins, as he Oneonta's Dave Ballard and then winning a 15-0 technical fall against Oswego's Eric Dicapua on day one before losing to Army's Brian Rowan in the semis. After winning a medical forfeit, he beat RIT's Nate Bachmann, 3-2, in the third-place match.

Buffalo will look to get back on the winning side of the dual meet ledger at an Alumni Arena quad-meet Saturday at 9:00 am, featuring Mid-American Conference foe Ohio, Delaware State and Division III's Ithaca.