College Wrestling
Rider University 24, Brown University 9
Harvard University 24, Rider University 17
NEW ENGLAND-The Broncs lost at Harvard in Boston, Mass. Saturday morning before defeating Brown in Providence, RI Saturday afternoon. "We went up here looking for two wins and we only got one," said Rider head coach Gary Taylor, "and we came very close."
For Rider (4-2) sophomore Donald McNeil (Plainville, Mass./Wyoming Seminary), freshman Curt Delia (Mullica Hill, NJ/Delsea), junior Ramon Santiago (Sayreville, N.J./Sayreville) and sophomore Jimmy Morris (Northport, NY/St. Anthony's) all won twice.
McNeil won by a major decision against Brown and his victory over the 20th ranked wrestler in the nation from Harvard gave Rider a 14-9 lead. "Donald wrestled well," Taylor said. "That was a real good win at Harvard."
Against Brown Delia's major decision at 149 gave Rider the lead for good. Delia also won by tech fall against Harvard to give Rider a 5-0 lead.
The CAA Rookie of the Month for November, Delia missed the prestigious Midlands tournament with an injury. "It is good to have Curt back," Taylor said.
Against Harvard not having a healthy 141 hurt the Broncs, having to forfeit the final bout while trailing just 18-17.
Morris cut the Harvard lead to 18-17 and his major decision against Brown was his team-high 18th win of the season.
Sophomore Clint Morrison (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) won against Harvard.
Junior James Brundage (Ossining, N.Y./Ossining), freshman Greg Velasco (Union Beach, NJ/Keyport) and junior Patrick Sabatini (Bristol, PA/Bristol) won at Brown.
"Brundage was winning most of his match at Harvard and our heavyweight got a tough call," Taylor said. "If those two matches go the other way it's a different story. We needed those two to pull this off. Greg (Velasco) has wrestled well."
Rider competes in the 33rd annual Virginia Duals next weekend. "A very tough tournament, like it is every year," Taylor said. "Hopefully we'll get a couple of our injured wrestlers back for it and we'll see what we can do."
Rider 24, Brown 9
125:Vincent Moita-B dec. Patrick Skinner-R 6-3 0-3
133: Jimmy Morris-R major dec. Anthony Finocchiaro-B 9-1 4-3
141: Cortlandt Choate dec. Rob Cigna-R 4-1 4-6
149: Curt Delia-R major dec. Zach Tanenbaum-B 14-4 8-6
157: Patrick Sabatini-R dec. Philip Marano-B 3-1 11-6
165: Ramon Santiago-R dec. Zach Kulczycki-B 6-0 14-6
174: James Brundage-R dec. Giuseppi Lanzi-B 5-2 17-6
184: Ophir Bernstein-B dec. Clint Morrison-R 12-5 17-9
197: Don McNeil-R major dec. Sebastien Levin-B 11-3 21-9
285: Greg Velasco-R dec, Marcos Aranda-B 6-1 24-9
Harvard 24, Rider 17
149 Curt Delia (R) tech-fall Alexis Wagener (H) 20-4 (6:10) 0-5
157 No. 9 Walter Peppelman (H) fall Patrick Sabatini (R) 0:10 6-5
165 Ramon Santiago (R) dec. Devon Gobbo (H) 7-4 6-8
174 Cameron Croy (H) dec. James Brundage (R) 6-3 9-8
184 Clint Morrison (R) dec. Josh Popple (H) 9-2 9-11
197 Donald McNeil (R) dec. No. 20 James Fox (H) 8-2 9-14
285 David Ng (H) dec. Greg Velasco (R) 2-1 TB1 12-14
125 Jeffrey Ott (H) fall Patrick Skinner (R) 1:02 18-14
133 Jimmy Morris (R) dec. Ryan Osleeb (H) 5-4 18-17
141 No. 10 Steven Keith (H) win by forfeit 24-17
