Two Wrestlers Take First at Mat-Town

The Columbia wrestling team had a strong performance on Saturday at the Mat-Town USA Open on Saturday in Lock Haven, Penn. The Lions placed in the top four in eight of the 10 events, and two wrestlers, senior Brandon Kinney and junior Sal Tirico, took first place in their respective weight classes.

Kinney started the meet on a high note for Columbia by capturing the crown in the 125-pound class. After pinning Tyler Mashkow of Hofstra, Kinney won a close 7-5 match over Lock Haven’s Nicholas Hyatt to secure the first place finish. The win came a week after Kinney, who is ranked 14th in the country, took first place in his class at the East Stroudsburg Open.

After strong wins at the 133-pound level, senior Jerome Greco lost the championship match, 5-2, to Matt Bonson of Virginia to finish second. Tirico began the 141-pound class well, scoring 9-1, 13-7, and 12-2 wins over opponents from Lock Haven and Penn State. The final match was close, but Tirico earned a 4-3 decision over Alex Krom of Maryland to take first. Sophomore Matt Dunn continued the trend of opening strong early with dominant performances in the 149-pound bracket, including a 6:54 pin on Maryland’s Kyle John. Dunn fell short of the title, however, in a close 5-3 match against Joey Metzler of Old Dominion, finishing second.

Although junior Derek Sickles took first place at 157 pounds last week at East Stroudsburg, he faced a difficult opponent in his third match of the Open against Alex Conover of Bloomsburg. After a 5-4 loss to Conover, he was edged 2-1 by Jarrett Hostetter in the consolation round to finish fourth. Although 174-pound junior Andrew Geving also fell early in his bracket, he also came back in the consolation rounds to take fourth place in his class. Junior Kenji Porter followed with a third fourth-place finish for Columbia at 184 pounds. At 197 pounds, senior Nick Sommerfeld racked up 6-2 and 6-3 wins over opponents from Pittsburgh and Lock Haven before an injury in the championship match forced him to default, taking second. Senior Jed Wade was edged 3-2 in the second round of the heavyweight bracket, but couldn’t recover in the consolation rounds.

The tournament featured teams from some of the biggest names in college wrestling on the East Coast, including Penn State, Pitt, Hofstra, and Maryland. The Lions will face two of the teams there, Cornell and Maryland, once the dual-meet season begins. Columbia travels to Las Vegas next weekend to compete in the Las Vegas Invitational, which starts on Nov. 30.