College Wrestling
Rider at Binghamton Open

BINGHAMTON, NY-The Broncs compiled a first, a second a third and two fourth place finishes at the WWSport.com BU Open Sunday. "I am feeling much better after this tournament," said Rider head coach Gary Taylor. "We had many wrestlers compete very well today."

Senior heavyweight Ed Bordas (Montgomery, NY/Valley Central) defeated Tyler Moore of Brown 2-0 in the finals. Bordas defeated Stryker Lane of Cornell 7-1 in the semifinals. Bordas also defeated wrestlers from George Mason (pin), Delaware Valley (9-0) and Brown (4-0). "It was good to see Eddie get off to a good start in his first tournament of the season," Taylor said. "He's stronger this year after a healthy off-season of training and he's learning what he can do with this added strength. He had a good tournament, beating good people."

Freshman 174 Jim Resnick (Media, PA/Penncrest) finished runner-up. Resnick wrestled unattached and lost to Mack Lewnes of Cornell in the finals. Resnick defeated wrestlers from Lehigh (tech fall), Princeton, George Mason and Rider teammate Mike Ward (Mayfield, Ohio/Mayfield Village) in the semifinals. The Mason wrestler, Bagna Tovuujav, was the CAA Champion and the CAA Most Outstanding Wrestler last season and was a national top 20 wrestler. "That's a pretty big win," Taylor said. "Resnick is the real deal. He's getting bigger and stronger and he's learning more."

Junior 165 Rob Morrison (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cedar Cliff) placed third, defeating a wrestler from Columbia 5-1. Morrison lost 5-4 in the semifinals to the eventual champion from Penn. Morrison, who red-shirted last season, won his first three bouts over wrestlers from Harvard (pin), Boston and Cornell to reach the semifinals. "Robbie lost a tough match in the semifinals," Taylor said. "He led most of that match. He's starting to put it all together."

Ward, a senior, reached the semifinals by defeating wrestlers from Middlesex, Hofstra, and Army. In the consolations, Ward placed fourth.

Junior 141 Matt Bradley (Jackson Memorial) placed fourth. Bradley won his first three bouts against wrestlers from Harvard, Hofstra, and Cornell before losing in the semifinals to a wrestler from Cornell.

Freshman 165 James Brundage (Ossining, NY) went 1-1 before winning bouts in the consolations over wrestlers from Harvard (pin), Bucknell, and Cornell before losing to Adam Hogue of Harvard. "He had the Harvard kid beat," Taylor said. "The last 20 seconds he over-wrestled and got taken down when he didn't need to do that when he was winning."

Senior 184 Mike Miller (Wilmington, DE/Brandywine) won his first two bouts over wrestlers from Brockport and Lehigh before losing to a wrestler from Cornell. In the consolations Miller lost to a wrestler from Army.

Freshman 157 Ramon Santiago (Sayreville) wrestled unattached and won his first two matches over wrestlers from Lock Haven (pin) and Penn before losing to a wrestler from Harvard. In the consolations Santiago lost 3-1 to a wrestler from Columbia.

"It was good to see our freshmen do so well, making college adjustments," Taylor said."I saw so much improvement today over where they were. That is what I was most impressed with today, how well our freshmen did."

Sophomore Filiberto Colon (Belleville) won three of five bouts with a pair of pins.

Freshman 157 Zac Cibula (Luxenburg, Wis.) won two of four bouts, as did senior 157 Michael Kessler (Randallstown, MD/Owings Mills), freshman 125 Alex Moritz (Riverton/Palmyra), sophomore 197 Tyler Smith (Phillipsburg/Belvidere), junior 184 Joe Ferber (Holbrook, NY/Sachem) and junior 125 Tim Trivisonno (East Windsor/Hightstown).

Rider travels to Bellefonte High School to take on Lock Haven for a dual meet November 20. "Lock Haven will compete hard," Taylor said.

-ru-