Three New York University wrestlers won their weight classes at the Mideast Futures Tournament on Sunday, February 25, on the campus of TCNJ in Ewing, NJ.
Jacob Venezia (133),
John Mairano (157) and
Nicky Bell (184) each took first in their weight classes and
Rex Jacops (165) placed fifth in a successful day for the Violets.
Venezia began with a 4:26 fall against Keystone College's Malachi Jones before a 19-4 tech fall (5:27) over Stevens' Arjun Khatri. Venezia produced another fall in the semifinals, pinning RIT's Aiden Prunoske in 4:09. The rookie's dominant run at the tournament was capped off by a 15-0 tech fall (3:25) over Sam Teti of Ursinus College in the title bout.
Mairano, also a freshman, began his run with a 20-3 tech fall (2:35) against Elizabethtown's Aiden Robinson. Another tech fall victory followed, this time against Muhlenberg's Logan Hurwitt (18-1, 5:38). Mairano then notched his third straight tech fall, also defeating Delaware Valley's Michael Beers 18-1 (4:52). His first pin of the day came in the title bout against Clinton Patzke of York (PA) in 2:14.
Bell opened the tournament with a pin, taking just 1:31 to defeat Ursinus' Jake Gross. The quarterfinals were closely contested, as Bell earned a 9-7 decision over EJ Bonet of Brockport. He produced another fall in the semis (3:52) over Ryan Monahan of SUNY Cortland. It was another close match in the title bout, but Bell again prevailed with a 9-5 decision versus Stevens' Brendan Newbury.
Jacops was defeated in the opening round, but won his way through the lower bracket to place fifth. He picked up a pair of falls along the way, taking down TCNJ's Nick Aque (1:36) and Keystone's Codi Bomboy (6:55). An 8-5 decision over teammate
Aaron Munford followed, before an 8-1 decision against Cortland's Justin Klen in the fifth-place bout.
Mark Dickey (174) notched a pair of falls on the day, first pinning Elizabethtown's Caleb Bowlin (5:30) in the opening round. Dickey was defeated in the second round and moved into the lower bracket, where he pinned St. John Fisher's Dylan Haubner in 4:01.
Next up for the wrestling team are the NCAA Northeast Regionals from Saturday-Sunday, March 2-3, in Worcester, MA.
