ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Competition was strong all afternoon long as wrestling got underway on Friday at the 2024 NCAA Mideast Regional where Ithaca currently sit in second place of 21 teams as the Bombers totaled 82 team points. The Bombers march to a regional championship got off to a strong start as grapplers competed in George H. Clark Gymnasium on the campus of RIT as TCNJ concluded the opening day of competition in first place with a 10-point lead over Ithaca and total of 92 team points.
 
125 Cosmo Damiani 1-2: Eliminated
 
Competing in his first-ever NCAA Mideast Regional, Cosmo Damiani earned the Bombers three team points as he went 1-2 on the afternoon. After a first round bye, Damiani was bested by Cortland's Jayden Cardenas via a 18-3 technical fall and would go on to face Pitt-Bradford's Uriah Morris in his first consolation matchup. Damiani was able to pin his opponent in the third round (6:23) but was eliminated from the bracket when he lost 20-5 to Riley Parker.
 
133 Isaias Torres 1-0: Semifinals vs. Kaden Ware (Pennsylvania College of Technology)
 
Torres was one of the first wrestlers in action on Friday and he was able to make slight work of his first opponent in Keystone's Malachi Jones. Torres was able to earn the fall over Malachi Jones in a 1:02 where he would battle George Rivera from New Jersey City University. The Ithaca sophomore was just as impressive as this time he earned a fall over Rivera in 1:16 to move onto his quarterfinals bout.
 
Isaias Torres saw a familiar opponent in SUNY Oneonta's Danny Poggi who he claimed victory over earlier this season and was able to do the same on Friday as he held Poggi scoreless and ended up claiming a 10-0 major decision to punch his ticket to the semifinals.
 
141 Matt Haycook 0-2: Eliminated
 
Haycook drew a strong opponent in his opening matchup in Muhlenberg's Andrew Loniewski as he was ranked No. 7 in the most recent Mideast regional rankings by NWCA. The first year scored in the first period and didn't look back as he ended up besting Haycook by a 10-2 major decision. Haycook wasn't able to fight back in his consolation bout as he was pinned by Brockport's Jaden Friel.
 
149 Matthew Beyer 3-0: Semifinals vs. Michael Glynn (RIT)

Beyer got off to a big-time start as he put on a clinic scoring at will in his first matchup against Pitt Bradford's Ray Worsen. Beyer was eventually able to secure the 30-13 technical fall in 4:41 as he would go on to square off against Ray Worsen. He kept up the high octane offensive attack as he was all over Centenary's Aaron Briscoe once again winning via a technical fall as this time he got it done in 7:00 and won 20-5. Next up, he battled a familiar face in Cortland's Christian Paredes. Although they didn't wrestle during final regular season dual of the season, they met up today and it proved to be an entertaining back-and-forth bout. Beyer went on to win scoring a 12-7 decision and he drew a favorable bracket as he will compete against RIT's Mike Glynn and will avoid matching up with No. 9 Thomas Monn (McDaniel)/Michael Conklin (TCNJ) until the potential finals. Beyer fell to Monn during the regular season, which turned out to be his last loss, which took place way back in January.
 
157 Wenchard Pierre-Louis 2-0: Semifinals vs. Ryan Datz (TCNJ)
 
Wenchard Pierre-Louis is truly rounding into form just at the critical point of the season and Friday was no different as he went 2-0. In his first round bout against Cortland's Kyle Klein, Pierre-Louis scored more than he did in their last matchup against each other and this time won via a 4-1 decision. Next up, he took on a dangerous Gavin Fehr (Elizabethtown) who came into the match on the heels of a 46 second pin, but this bout went the distance and Wenchard Pierre-Louis earned the 7-1 decision, only holding him to an escape point.
 
165 Konrad Parker 2-0: Semifinals vs. No. 4 Brian Schneider (Elizabethtown)
 
Also earning a crucial 12 team points for the Bombers cause was Konrad Parker who impressed and got it started with a fall in 30 seconds over Garrett Roskelly from Elmira College. Next up, he would take on Dennis Slovick (Pitt-Bradford) in the quarterfinals as Parker showed off his prowess scoring the 24-6 major decision over Slovick. Parker will have a solid chance at claiming a berth to nationals as the road will first go through Brian Schneider who is ranked No. 4 nationally and will be a tough bout to start off Saturday's festivities.
 
174 Jackson Gray 2-0: Semifinals vs. No. 13 Gannon Smith (Elizabethtown)
 
Gray will also open up his semifinals with a tough ranked opponent on Saturday in No. 13 ranked Gannon Smith but respectively he looked good on Friday by first opening up with a fall over Dalton Pearl (McDaniel) achieving the feat in 2:20. He then won an ultra-close bout over RIT's Ben Dougherty scoring the 7-6 decision to move onto the semis.
 
184 Jake Jones 2-1: Consolation Quarterfinals vs. Robert Cunnigham (Cortland)
 
Competing in arguably the toughest bracket at this years Mideast Regional, Jake Jones was tested from the get-go competing against Zach Swyers he won via a 3-2 decision. Unfortunately he came out on the wrong end of a one point decision fall as Jones dropped a 2-1 matchup to Elizabethtown's Will Davis. Moving into the consolations, he made slight work of Noah Graber picking up the fall in 17 seconds and will take on Cortland's Robert Cunningham as they have a chance to still earn a national berth tomorrow if they can fight back for a third-place finish.
 
197 Ryan Galka 2-0: Semifinals vs. No. 10 Jaedyn Haris (McDaniel)
 
Potentially flying under the radar going into this weekend was Ryan Galka and he picked up a pair of victories to earn a place in the semifinals. He got off to an outstanding start defeating SUNY Oneonta's Carson Lucastri in decisive fashion besting him in a 12-6 decision. It was truly a battle in the quarterfinals with Galka scoring the 9-6 sudden victory over a tough opponent in DJ Henry from TCNJ that electrified his teammates that were watching the bout.

HWT Jeremy Mazzella 2-1: Consolation Quarterfinals vs. Darius Green (Elmira)
 
Similar to Jones, Jeremy Mazzella can still earn a bid to nationals with a third-place finish as he will have to fight back through the consolation bracket after dropping a closely contested 2-1 decision to Jake Pomykata (Johns Hopkins). However, Mazzella has looked solid so far fighting back first earning a 4-1 win over Nicholai Brotzman that was followed by an 11-4 decision over RIT's Ryan Fischer.
 
Wrestling resumes at 11 a.m. tomorrow morning for day two of the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional. Doors will open at 10 for spectators.