Breaking Rank, Army Overtakes CU Wrestling

The wrestling team dropped its second dual meet in four days last night when it fell to Army (10-4, 6-1 EIWA) 21-13 in West Point, N.Y. Columbia (4-2, 0-2 EIWA), ranked 25th in the country, suffered its second straight loss to a league opponent, having come up short against Lehigh 19-16 on Sunday.

The meet opened up at the heavyweight level, where freshman Kevin Lester, who had a pin on Sunday against Lehigh, faced Nathan Thobaben of the Black Knights. This time, however, Lester came up on the losing side, as Thobaben pinned him in 1:27. Seizing the momentum from the upset, Army's Fernando Martinez won a decisive 4-0 match against junior Brandon Kinney at 125 pounds. The Light Blue scored its first victory of the evening with a close 2-1 win by 133-pound senior Matt DeLorenzo over William Simpson. The Black Knights answered with an 8-3 defeat of sophomore Sal Tirico by Matt Kyler at 141 pounds. Freshman Matt Dunn delivered the 149-pound class to the Lions, soundly defeating Austin Milster in a 9-0 major decision. Army then increased its lead on Columbia with wins in the 157- and 165-pound classes, as Christian Snook and Brian Rowan took down seniors Devin Mesanko and Ricky Turk with 4-3 and 4-2 decisions, respectively.

Senior Matt Palmer halted the Black Knights' streak with an 8-6 winning decision over Brent Smith at 174 pounds. Sophomore Andy Geving, however, became the sixth Lions wrestler to go down, falling 10-4 to Army's Scott Ferguson. As on Sunday, the Light Blue managed to close the meet on a high note, as 197-pound junior Nick Sommerfeld triumphed in overtime over Connor Sanders of Army.

The loss to the Black Knights was considered an upset by the team, partially because Columbia had been ranked higher than Army for much of the season and because the Lions had defeated several West Point wrestlers in Buffalo, N.Y. at the New York State Championships fewer than two weeks ago. Head coach Brendan Buckley, however, saw the loss as mainly a product of the team having three meets against league opponents in less than a week.

"We didn't look right," Buckley said. "I just think the guys looked really drained from having to make weights just a few days ago. We stumbled a little bit."

The Light Blue will be back on the mats on Saturday, when the team takes on league rival Cornell at Levien Gym.