LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 13^th-ranked Ithaca College wrestling team was back on the mats for live competition for the first time in nearly a month when it opened up the early morning session at the NWCA Multi-Divisional National Duals against Western New England. The Bombers shook off some rust and punched their ticket to the Second Round with a hard-earned victory over the Golden Bears.
 
Not much separated the two sides through the first five bouts of the day with Western New England taking a narrow 12-10 lead at the duals midway point. However, Ithaca turned things around down the stretch, rolling off five consecutive wins in the dual's second half en route to pulling away for 30-12 triumph.
 
#13 Ithaca 30 – Western New England 12
125 LB: Nicholas Arborio (WNE) def. Tito Colom (IC) | DEC: 7-2
133 LB: Travis Jones (IC) def. Nick Calderone (WNE) | FALL: 1:45
141 LB: #10/- Ben Brisman (IC) def. Justin DeLucia (WNE) | MD: 13-5
149 LB: Alex Starr (WNE) def. Demetri D'Orsaneo (IC) | FALL: 6:44
157 LB: #9/- Ryan Monteiro (WNE) def. #-/10 Sam Schneider (IC) | DEC: 9-5
165 LB: #6/6 Austin Whitney (IC) def. Jeff Suschana (WNE) | TF: 16-0
174 LB: #5/7 Jordan Wallace (IC) def. Davey Goodall (WNE) | DEC: 8-4
184 LB: Eze Chukwuezi (IC) def. #4/1 John Boyle (WNE) | SV-1: 6-4
197 LB: Dymir Davis-Carruth (IC) def. Daniel Price (WNE) | DEC: 3-0
285 LB: Dalton Elias (IC) def. Ben Falivene (WNE) | FALL: 1:11
 
It was not a quick start to the day for IC who had several faces seeing action either for the first time this season or the first time since the early part of November among the lighter weights. Western New England took advantage of some of that rustiness from the Bombers, winning three of the first five bouts to secure an early lead at the midway point.
 
Senior Tito Colom made his season debut at the 125-pound weight, something that has been in the works since the early part of the season. Unfortunately, the move down a weight was not as smooth as hoped with Western New England's Nicholas Arborio controlling matters from the outset in a 7-2 decision.
 
The Bombers responded with a pair of bonus-point results from two bright spots in the lineup during the early part of this season at 133-pounds and 141-pounds. First, first-year Travis Jones continued his impressive debut season, carrying over his form into the season's second half with a first-period pin of Nick Calderone (1:45). The victory by fall was his sixth of the year. Senior Ben Brisman (10^th NWCA) followed that up with his first action dating back to November, rolling up a comfortable first-period lead and coasting to a 13-5 major decision over Justin DeLucia.
 
Ithaca's momentum was stopped in its tracks at 149-pounds. Redshirt-senior Demetri D'Orsaneo got the nod for the first time this season and battled hard, before conceding a late fall against Western New England's Alex Starr. The result cut IC's lead to a single point at 10-9 in the match. The lead evaporated altogether in the next bout in the only ranked-on-ranked battle of today's opening round dual. Redshirt-sophomore Sam Schneider (10^th d3wrestle.com) has been eased into action this season, but faced one of his most challenging bouts of the season thus far against Ryan Monteiro (9^th NWCA). Monteiro jumped on top 6-3 through the opening period and never relinquished his edge en route to a 9-5 win that lifted Western New England to a 12-10 lead at the halfway point.
 
Needing a big result to staunch the Golden Bears momentum, the Bombers received that performance in spades from its redshirt-senior leader Austin Whitney (6^th NWCA | 6^th d3wrestle.com). Beleaguered by a nagging injury throughout much of the opening six weeks of the season, Whitney looked refreshed and in his All-American form this morning, rolling up a 10-0 lead in the first three minutes and rolling to a 16-0 technical fall midway through the second period. The result put Ithaca back on top 15-12 and would spark IC's second half surge.
 
Junior transfer Jordan Wallace (5^th NWCA | 7^th d3wrestle.com) remained unbeaten this season with a hard-earned 8-4 decision over Davey Goodall at 174-pounds. The win gave Ithaca a six-point cushion heading into a crucial bout at 184-pounds between sophomore Eze Chukwuezi and Western New England's reigning national champion in John Boyle (4^th NWCA | 1^st d3wrestle.com). Chukwuezi turned in one of the finest performances of his young career in the bout, establishing himself firmly as someone to watch on the national stage during the stretch run. The IC sophomore took control of the bout during the second period, earning an escape and a takedown to pull out to a 3-0 edge, before Boyle was able to notch an escape before time had elapsed in the frame. Boyle took bottom to begin the third period and further shaved the margin with an early escape to close Chukwuezi's edge to 3-2. Western New England's man put forward one final push in the waning second, connecting for a takedown with little time remaining to briefly pull ahead 4-3. However, Chukwuezi remained calm and squeezed out an escape before the horn to send things to an extra-session deadlocked at 4-4. Although Chukwuezi was whistled for an early stall warning in the first sudden-victory period, he got his offense going again late in the minute clock, connecting for a takedown with just a handful of seconds left to score the 6-4 upset victory.
 
Buoyed by Chukwuezi's thrilling win, Ithaca surged to clinch the runaway win over the final two bouts. Junior Dymir Davis-Carruth turned in another typically strong defensive performance in his first action since early November. He tallied a 3-0 shutout decision over Daniel Price. Senior heavyweight Dalton Elias put the bow on Ithaca's dominant second half, scoring an early takedown, before locking in a pin at 1:11 against Ben Falivene.
 
Ithaca will be back on the mat shortly after 11:00 a.m. when it faces sixth-ranked Coe College in the Second Round.