College Wrestling
Rider University 27, Drexel University 9
PHILADELPHIA, PA-The Broncs won seven of the 10 bouts to defeat Drexel in a Colonial Athletic Association dual meet Saturday night. "I thought we wrestled hard the whole match, up and down the line up," said Rider head coach Gary Taylor. "We wrestled well. I was pleased."
For Rider (11-6, 3-1 CAA) junior Ilyass Elmsaouri (Camp Hill, PA/Cedar Cliff) upset Michael Gomez, who is ranked fourth in the CAA, while Elmsaouri is ranked fifth. "Ilyass did a nice job getting us started off with a nice win," Taylor said. "That will help him (in the CAA tournament seeding)."
Rider freshman Jim Resnick (Media, Pa./Penncrest) won by tech fall. "That was a real nice win for Jim," Taylor said. "He looked really tough on top and did a nice job."
Junior Rob Morrison (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) won a major decision, while senior Michael Kessler (Randallstown, MD/Owings Mills), junior Matt Bradley (Jackson/Jackson Memorial) and sophomore Tyler Smith (Phillipsburg, N.J./Belvidere) also won. "Tyler was a little banged up coming into this but did what he needed to do to get the win."
Smith improved to 20-12 and Kessler is now 19-9, 4-0 in the CAA.
For Drexel (9-11, 3-3 CAA), Steve Mytych, ranked first in the CAA and 12th in the nation, defeated Rider's sophomore Jimmy Kirchner (Somerville), ending Kirchner's streak of nine straight wins.
Drexel's Joe Booth, ranked third in the CAA, defeated freshman Zac Cibula (Luxenburg, Wis./Casco), who is ranked fourth.
Rider and Drexel have now met 34 times since the series began in 1970-71 with Rider winning 26. The last time Drexel defeated Rider was during the 2006-07 season.
Rider had not wrestled since January 30. "Sometimes when you have a break you are a little bit concerned about that but we looked in shape and wrestled hard," Taylor said.
Rider hosts Hofstra Wednesday, a match that was snowed out February 10. "We're just going to keep working hard and try to get better and better as we go for the conference," Taylor said. "We're training as hard as we can right now to hit this thing right. We're looking forward to having Hofstra here."
The dual meet featured two of the top coaches in Division I in career wins. Drexel head coach Jack Childs has 394 career wins, most among active coaches, while Coach Taylor now has 357, third most among active coaches.
Rider 27, Drexel 9
125: Ilyass Elmsaouri (R) dec. Michael Gomez (D), 4-2 3-0
133: Steve Mytych (D) dec. Jimmy Kirchner (R), 11-5 3-3
141: Matt Bradley (R) dec. Shane Fenningham (D), 8-2 6-3
149: Michael Kessler (R) dec. Brett McCurdy (D), 7-4 9-3
157: Joe Booth (D) dec. Zac Cibula (R), 12-6 9-6
165: Rob Morrison (R) maj. Alex Rinaldi (D), 13-1 13-6
174: Jim Resnick (R) t.f. Dave Woodall (D), 4:34 18-6
184: Justin Wieller (D) dec. Mike Ward (R), 6-4 18-9
197: Tyler Smith (R) dec. Shawn Fausey (D), 10-3 21-9
285: Ed Bordas (R) inj. def. Kyle Frey (D) 27-9
