TROY, N.Y. – The No. 8 Ithaca College wrestling team was in the Capital Region for the first of two days on Saturday when it saw its first duel meet action of the season at the Journeymen Northeast Duels. The Bombers went 1-1 on the day, defeating Castleton in the opening match of the day 31-10, before falling to nationally-ranked North Carolina State in a cross-divisional matchup. The action served as an excellent tune-up for Sunday's Journeymen Collegiate Classic, which will be a round-robbin invitational format.
 
Ithaca began the day with a comfortable victory over Castleton in a 31-10 victory. The Bombers took seven of 10 bouts in the contest, scoring bonus victories in five of its seven triumphs. Highlighting the action were two victories by fall, as 141-pounder Ben Brisman and 184-entrant No. 10 Jake Ashcraft each locked in the full six points to help IC pull away for the 21-point margin over the Spartans.
 
Castleton took the early lead in the match with a 13-11 decision over IC's first-year grappler Johnny Stramiello; however, sophomore 133-pounder Tito Colom pushed Ithaca back ahead with an 18-6 major decision to make the score 4-3. After Brisman's first-period pin of Castleton's Billings extended the Ithaca advantage to 10-3, IC never looked back in taking five of the final seven bouts.
 
In addition to Brisman, Ashcraft and Colom, two other Bombers scored bonus points in the opening match of the day. In his first action of the season, Sammy Schneider (5^th NWCA; 157) scored an 11-2 major decision to extend Ithaca's lead in the match to 14-6. Nick Velez (5^th NWCA; 165) racked up a second-period technical fall one bout later to extend the lead to 19-6.
 
Fifth-ranked Jake O'Brien (5^th NWCA) put the cap on the match with a 2-0 decision over Castleton's Jesse Webb to close out the 31-10 victory. It was the first action of the season for the 2016 NCAA All-American.
 
The Bombers continued the day with a solid performance against an NC State squad that is nationally-ranked in NCAA Division I. Ithaca picked up victories in three bouts, as Brisman, Schneider and Ashcraft all continued their strong outings. Unfortunately, the Wolf Pack were too strong despite a valiant effort for IC's grapplers in a 30-12 defeat.
 
Brisman scored a 6-4 victory at 141 pounds, while Schneider picked up a 5-2 decision at 157 pounds. Ashcraft scored a second period tap-out from NC State's Nicky Hall to earn the Bombers other six team points in the match.
 
Ithaca returns to action with several wrestlers competing in the Journeymen Collegiate Classic.

No. 8 Ithaca 31 - Castleton 10
125: Darwick (CAST) def. Stramiello (ITHACA) | DEC: 13-11 | Castleton  3-0 
133: Colom (ITHACA) def. Camacho (CAST) | MD: 18-6 | Ithaca 4-3 
141: Brisman (ITHACA) def. Billings (CAST) | Fall: 0:37 | Ithaca 10-3 
149: Temple (CAST) def. D'Orsaneo (ITHACA) | DEC: 8-3 | Ithaca 10-6 
157: Schneider (ITHACA) def. Milliken (CAST) | MD: 11-2 | Ithaca 14-6 
165: Velez (ITHACA) def. Costa (CAST) | TF: 4:14 | Ithaca 19-6 
174: Rice (ITHACA) def. Viens (CAST) | DEC: 4-2 | Ithaca 22-6 
184: Ashcraft (ITHACA) def. Laflam (CAST) | Fall: 1:14 | Ithaca 28-6 
197: Stephens (CAST) def. Elias (ITHACA) | MD: 12-4 | Ithaca 28-10 
HWT: O'Brien (ITHACA) def. Webb (CAST) | DEC: 2-0 | Ithaca 31-10

NC State 30 - Ithaca 12
125: Cox (NCST) def. Stramiello (ITHACA) |  Fall: 2:28 | NC State 6-0 
133: Wilson (NCST) def. Colom (ITHACA) | MD: 16-5 | NC State 10-0 
141: Brisman (ITHACA) def. Clark (NCST) | DEC: 6-4 | NC State 10-3 
149: Morris (NCST) def. D'Orsaneo (ITHACA) | MD: 16-3 | NC State 14-3 
157: Schneider (ITHACA) def. Rizzolino (NCST) | DEC: 5-2 | NC State 14-6 
165: Hamann (NCST) def. Velez (ITHACA) | DEC: 6-3 | NC State 17-6 
174: Bullard (NCST) def. Rice (ITHACA) | Fall: 2:13 | NC State 23-6 
184: Ashcraft (ITHACA) def. Hall (NCST) | Fall: 4:06 | NC State 23-12 
197: Johnson (NCST) def. Elias (ITHACA) | DEC: 11-7 | NC State 26-12 
HWT: McDonald (NCST) def. O'Brien (ITHACA) | MD: 11-3 | NC State 30-12