The wrestling team continued their hot streak the week before Thanksgiving with three wins in dual meets on Nov. 19, while taking second-place honors at the Oneonta Invitational on Nov. 22.
The Lions started their streak off with a 38-9 victory at Hunter College. They followed it up with two victories at New York University (NYU), beating the host Violets 38-3. The Lions finished off their successful day in impressive fashion with a 60-0 victory over Yeshiva University. The three wins put the Lions at 4-0 so far this year.
Perhaps the biggest wins of the day came from senior Greg Osgoodby (174 pounds), who went 3-0. Osgoodby has now reached 100 victories in his collegiate career.
"It felt great," Osgoodby said. "I came into the season with high expectations for myself and the team, and reaching 100 wins was one of the goals I had set for myself."
Osgoodby had a big win over a familiar opponent, Naum Shuminov of NYU. Shuminov is ranked ninth in the 174-pound weight class. When the two met earlier this season, Osgoodby came away with the win in a close match. At Hunter, Osgooby won again but in a more decisive fashion, pinning Shuminov at the 2:04 mark.
"To get a more decisive win was great," Osgoodby said. "I knew I did not wrestle my best the first time around. I changed some things around and it worked out very well for me."
The Lions had four other wrestlers go 3-0 on the day. Sophomore Kyle Kinchen (125 pounds), senior Dan DiColo (165 pounds), sophomore Mike Denver (184 pounds) and freshman Ed Broderick (285 pounds) all went undefeated on the day.
The Lions followed up their success in the dual meets on Nov. 22 by finishing in second place at the Onenta Invitational. The College's wrestling team finished with 128.5 points, trailing only 13th-ranked SUNY-Cortland (157.5) in the 11-team competition.
"We had a strong performance in Oneonta," junior Tyler Branham said. He said that despite being somewhat short-handed due to injuries, "the guys who were there all wrestled hard."
"I feel if we had our full team there, we could have topped Cortland," he added.
Branham took first-place honors in the 149-pound class, edging out teammate John Barnett by a score of 3-1. Branham went a perfect 5-0 on the day, while Barnett finished with four victories.
On beating his teammate, Branham said, "Having a team with as much depth as we do, it's bound to happen, and when it does you just have to look at it as any other match."
It was also an all-Lion showdown in the 157-pound class, with senior Dan DiColo narrowly beating freshman Joe Falco by a score of 5-1.
The third and final Lion to finish with first-place honors was Osgoodby, who went 4-0 on the day with two wins by fall. The four wins keep Osgoodby undefeated on the season with a current season record of 14-0.
Regardless of how well the team members have performed thus far, they know there is always room for improvement.
"We still have alot of work to do before our bigger tests come up later in the season," Branham said.
The Lions will return to dual-meet action today as they host King's College at 4 p.m. in Packer Hall.
