ITHACA, N.Y. – The #4 Ithaca wrestling team (20-1) earned its 20th dual-meet victory of the season in a 24-12 win over #16 Cortland (16-4) Wednesday at Ben Light Gymnasiu m. The win was the 151st in the career of Bomber coach Marty Nichols, moving him past John Muray (who coached Nichols in college) to become the program's winningest coach.
Bomber senior David Sbriscia (Warren Hills/Stewartsville, N.J.) scored an important victory at 197 pounds. His takedown with 29 seconds left in the third period was the difference in a 3-1 decision victory over Cortland's Carl Korpi, who entered the match ranked seventh nationally in the weight class. That gave Ithaca an 18-12 lead in the team scoring, and senior Joe Goetz (Sewanhaka/New Hyde Park) won the heavyweight bout by forfeit.
Ithaca won four straight bouts by decision in the middle weights to build a 15-3 advantage. Junior Jeremy Stierly (Owen J. Roberts/Pottstown, Pa.) won 6-2 at 141 pounds, junior Blaine Woszczak (Wall/Manasquan, N.J.) won at 149 pounds, senior Willie Horwath (Liberty/Bethlehem, Pa.) won at 157 and senior John Dale (North Penn/Lansdale, Pa.) won at 165. Ithaca's opened the dual with a 4-0 decision win by senior Jon Gregory (Phillipsburg/Phillipsburg, N.J.) at 125 pounds.
Horwath's victory moved him into a tie with Bart Morrow as the program's all-time leaders in dual-meet victories with 48. Horwath also has 115 overall wins, tied with current head coach Marty Nichols for fifth all-time.
The Bombers compete at the nine-team Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference championships Feb. 20 at RIT. The conference's 10 weight-class champions earn bids to the NCAA Championships along with five wild-card selections from the rest of the field. Ithaca has won the last two ECWC titles.
#4 ITHACA 24, #16 Cortland 12
125: Jon Gregory (I) dec. Sean Kempf (C), 4-0
133: Aljamain Sterling (C) dec. Chad Winowich (I), 3-1
141: Jeremy Stierly (I) dec. Mark Arcara (C), 6-2
149: Blaine Woszczak (I) dec. Stephen Perez (C), 12-7
157: Willie Horwath (I) dec. Kevin Sackett (C), 5-4
165: John Dale (I) dec. Will Brodfeuhrer (C), 8-6
174: Mike Ciaburri (C) pinned Joe Beach (I) in 1:40
184: Jared Myhrberg (C) dec. Josue Mendez (I), 4-0
197: David Sbriscia (I) dec. Carl Korpi (C), 3-1
285: Joe Goetz (I) win by forfeit
