Ithaca Invitational Final Brackets
Ithaca Invitational Final Team Standings
 
It was a successful weekend for the New York University wrestling team at its season-opening tournament on Friday and Saturday, November 4-5, at the 2011 Ithaca College Invitational in Ithaca, NY.
 
The grapplers took sixth place out of nine teams with a final team score of 133 points. Taking first was Centenary College with 216.5 points.
 
“We shook off some of those day-one nerves and wrestled very well today,” said head coach Bruce Haberli. “We had a few guys give us some very strong performances and we just have to continue to build on them.”
 
Two NYU wrestlers captured individual titles in their respective brackets.
 
In the 165-pound division, David Rice won all of his matches, capped off by a 9-8 win in the championship bout over Nicholas Sanko of Ithaca.
 
The second NYU individual title winner was Steve Massey, who dominated his first two opponents on Friday with 12-2 and 17-0 victories. On Saturday, Massey ran into tougher competition. But, he outlasted Shane Bartrum of Ithaca 3-2 and Will Miller of Centenary 7-5 in the semifinal and final, respectively, to win the 197-pound division individual title.
 
Two other grapplers, Janik Santana-Quintana and Gregg Martino, made championship runs in their respective brackets, but both fell just short of individual titles to finish as runner-ups.

Santana-Quintana lost the closest match of the invitational in the 125-pound division title bout. The match-up featuring Santana-Quintana and Dominick Giacolone of Ithaca was tied at the end of regulation and was sent into overtime. After a back-and-forth first overtime, Santana-Quintana forced the match into a second-overtime before losing 2-1 to Giacolone.

In the 174-pound division, Martino won three straight bouts to reach the championship match against Jules Doliscar of Ithaca. However, Martino had to settle for second after losing to Doliscar by a 5-1 decision.

Freshmen Sam Friedfeld (157) and Pat Sheehan (174) both finished one match away from the podium in their respective weight classes.

“Sam and Pat were strong in their first collegiate competition and should only get better from here,” said Haberli.

The grapplers will continue their season next Saturday, Nov. 12, at the John Reese Duals in Wilkes-Barre, PA.