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Eze Nationals

Men's Wrestling Colin Herb '23, Athletics Communications Student Assistant

Eze Chukwuezi in Contention for a National Championship

ROANOKE, Va. - The Road to Roanoke was a long grind for all 180 wrestlers that qualified for the national tournament. Our Bombers have been scrapping since the first competition at Ithaca College on November 4 where they hosted the Ithaca Invitational. Since that day, the Bombers wrestled 14 different events including tournaments, dual tournaments, and multi-team meets. During that stretch Ithaca has wrestled five ranked duals and countless ranked individuals throughout the various competition. One third of the entire year has boiled down to this weekend. The fight for All-American started a long time ago, but Roanoke is where champions are crowned.
 
Four Bombers took the mat this Friday: 133 Isaias Torres, 149 Matthew Beyer, 157 Wenchard Pierre-Louis, and 197 Eze Chukwuezi. Before the tournament started, FloWrestling released predictions that put our heaviest Bomber in the finals. Win two matches and you are an All-American and move onto Saturday. Here's how Ithaca's Friday shaped up:
 
133 Isaias Torres: 1-2; Decision over Nico Diaz of Stevens
His first match against returning 3rd place winner Dalton Rohrbaugh was exciting to watch. Torres was able to score some points on the DI transfer because of his lightning speed. There were two pivotal moments in the match. The first was Rohrbaugh securing a takedown at the very end of the first period, not allowing Torres to get his escape point. That forced the Bomber to turn up the heat a little. The next was an interesting scoring sequence on the edge of the mat. Rohrbaugh defended a shot and was able to get a go behind for two, but as Torres was working up to his feet with Rohrbaugh clearly attached in a position that demonstrated takedown control, the referee awarded two for the original takedown, one for a Torres escape, and two for the same exact takedown claiming that Torres managed to clear control. That 2-1-2 scoring forced Torres to fall farther behind on the scoreboard. Despite racking another takedown and some stall points, Torres ultimately fell 8-6.

His next match was nearly as clean as it gets for a national championship. Torres had remarkable defense the entire bout. He wasn't dodging action either, as he didn't get hit with a single stall despite clearly being on defense most of the match. The only takedown scored was when Torres re-attacked off an angle to hit a duck and claim his two points.
 
149 Matthew Beyer: 0-2
It was a tough day for Beyer. Pulling the top seed and No.1 in the country and favorite to win it all Petrella from Baldwin-Wallace isn't how you necessarily want to start your day. After going down big, Beyer went for a big move to save the match. Petrella caught him and secured the fall.

Beyer's second match was a very similar situation. Instead this time he did hit a massive cement mixer on the edge of the mat that nearly turned the match from an 8-0 losing situation to a victory via fall. While trying to prevent his opponent from escaping out of bounds, Beyer lost control. After giving up another takedown, Beyer had to go huge again. This time it wasn't as successful. Beyer was eliminated from the tournament.
 
157 Wenchard Pierre-Louis: 0-2
Pierre-Louis ran into a tough wrestler in #1 David Hollingsworth from Wabash in his first match. He said himself that it was a style matchup unfavorable for him. They were similar types of wrestlers, but Hollingsworth got the better of Pierre-Louis this time. The Bomber did look very good from neutral. He was able to create scoring opportunities despite Hollingsworth's elite defense.
 
197 Eze Chukwuezi: 2-0 All-American; Major over James Cruz of Merchant Marine Academy & Decision Beau Yineman of Wisconsin Oshkosh
 
Eze looked on point all day. The veteran earned All American status for the fourth time in his Ithaca College career. His defense was especially remarkable. Typically Eze doesn't give up takedowns because of his ability to score so quickly from neutral. As it normally happens at nationals, opponents were more aggressive than he has been seeing throughout the latter half of the season. Eze's hips were heavy. His ability to not only stuff shots but hip into pressure and score was abnormal compared to the rest of the field. Not to mention his shot finishes were vicious. In his only takedown of the match against Yineman, Eze picked his opponent in the air, drove from end to end of the mat, and buried Yineman on his back for a big six point move.
 
Eze competes tomorrow against Coy Spooner, the #1 seed from Coast Guard Academy. Spooner has had some close calls to this point of the tournament, but is a very lanky returning All American. Eze's keys to success: Use your strength, finish shots fast with power, pressure with offense rather than scoring off defense.
 
Wrestling starts at 10 a.m. tomorrow, although Eze is in the 197-weight class. His match will most likely be closer to 11a.m. It can be streamed via Flowrestling with a subscription.
 

Players Mentioned

Matthew Beyer

Matthew Beyer

149
Senior
Eze Chukwuezi

Eze Chukwuezi

184/197
Graduate Student
Wenchard Pierre-Louis

Wenchard Pierre-Louis

149/157
Sophomore
Isaias Torres

Isaias Torres

125
First Year

Players Mentioned

Matthew Beyer

Matthew Beyer

Senior
149
Eze Chukwuezi

Eze Chukwuezi

Graduate Student
184/197
Wenchard Pierre-Louis

Wenchard Pierre-Louis

Sophomore
149/157
Isaias Torres

Isaias Torres

First Year
125