College Wrestling
Rider University 22, Boston University 13
LAWRENCEVILLE-The Broncs won six bouts to defeat Boston University in a Colonial Athletic Association dual meet Saturday. "There have been quite a few exciting matches this year and that was another one," said Rider head coach Gary Taylor. "We had a good scenario, with three of our most consistent wrestlers in the beginning, in the middle and at the end."
The loss snapped BU's eight-match winning streak. "This was a good win," Taylor said. "Boston is a very good team."
For Rider (9-11, 3-3 CAA), in his final dual meet, senior Rob Morrison (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) won over the third ranked wrestler in the CAA, Hunter Meys, to improve to 6-0 in the CAA. Meys defeated Morrison three years ago but Morrison defeated Meys earlier this year. "I decked him," Morrison said of his pin.
Morrison also won his very first match in Rider's Alumni Gym, a pin to help Rider defeat nationally ranked Lehigh in 2007.
"It feels like yesterday it was that Lehigh match," said Morrison, who recently defeated the top ranked 174 in the CAA who was ranked tenth in the nation and should be the top seed in the upcoming CAA Championships. "I'm happy with the way my career has gone and the best part about it is I'm getting better and stronger now than I've ever been."
"Robbie has had a nice career here," Taylor said. Morrison enters the CAA Championships with 77 victories, including 28 last year and 24 this season. "His junior and senior years have been very good and right now he is wrestling better than he ever has."
Sophomore Zac Cibula (Luxemburg, Wis./Luxemburg Casco) had a come-from-behind 3-1 win at 149 to tie the score at 13-13. "That was a hard-fought match," Taylor said, "and he finished it out really well. That was a very talented wrestler he beat."
Sophomore Jim Resnick (Media, Pa./Penncrest) won by fall for the final score. With the win Resnick improved to 15-6 on the season. "Jimmy showed back up today," Taylor said of Resnick, who had lost his last three decisions. "We needed him to do that and he needed to do that. I think it is an indication that he is back. He's been down on himself a little with the recent losses."
Freshman Ramon Santiago (Sayreville, N.J./Sayreville) won to give Rider a 16-13 lead.
Junior Aaron Nestor (Transfer, Pa./Reynolds) won a major decision to cut the lead to 13-10. Freshman Chuck Zeisloft (Woodbury Heights, N.J./Gateway) won to cut the lead to 10-6.
For Boston U. (10-6-1, 2-2-1 CAA) the top ranked 197 in the CAA, John Hall, won a major decision to give the Terriers a 7-3 lead.
Fred Santaite, ranked 16th in the nation by InterMat, won to give BU a 13-6 lead. The fourth ranked 184 in the CAA, Brock Mantella, won to tie the score at 3-3. Kevin Innis, the second ranked heavyweight in the CAA won to give BU a 10-3 lead.
Rider will host the CAA Championships March 4-5. "Now we train hard and get ready for the CAA," Taylor said. "Binghamton is the defending champion and they beat everyone this year." Rider lost 18-17 to Binghamton. "We had one of our better matches against them," Taylor said. "Binghamton and Hofstra have the most nationally ranked wrestlers so on paper they are the favorites. I've been around long enough, however to know that other teams can sneak in. Our goal all year was to improve and that has happened."
"I've told all my teammates that we can take this conference," Morrison said. "We've been getting so much stronger as the season went on. This is exciting and I'm really looking forward to it. I really think we can pull out a conference championship."
Rider 22, Boston U. 13
174 - Rob Morrison-R dec. Hunter Meys-B 7-1 3-0
184 - Brock Mantella-B dec. James Brundage-R 13-11 3-3
197 - John Hall-B major dec. Joe Ferber-R 9-0 3-7
285 - Kevin Innis-B dec. Evan Craig-R 10-3 3-10
125 - Chuck Zeisloft-R dec. Ryan Dowd-B 6-3 6-10
133 - Fred Santaite-B dec. Jimmy Kirchner-R 8-4 6-13
141 - Aaron Nestor-R major dec. Jordan Frease-B 9-0 10-13
149 - Zac Cibula-R dec. Nestor Taffur-B 3-1 13-13
157 - Ramon Santiago-R dec. Nick Tourville-B 7-4 16-13
165 - Jim Resnick-R wbf Kyle Czarnecki-B 2:59 22-13
