Four Scarlet Knights Place in Buffalo Open
Nov 04 | Wrestling
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Members of the Rutgers wrestling team, under the guidance of second-year head coach Scott Goodale, competed unattached in the Buffalo Open, Tuesday in Buffalo, N.Y.
Four Scarlet Knights placed in the tournament, led by a third-place finish by redshirt-sophomore Sean DeDeyn (Bayville, N.J.) in the heavyweight division. DeDeyn advanced to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Corey Morrison of Ohio State, 8-0. In the consolation bracket, DeDeyn defeated Mercyhurst’s Mike Sullivan and Buffalo’s Brett Correll to take third.
Freshman Joey Langel (Howell, N.J.) was impressive in his debut for Rutgers, taking fourth at 125. Langel reached the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Paul Donahue of Edinboro. In the third-place bout, Langel fell again to an Edinboro wrestler, this time Eric Morrill.
Also finishing fourth was senior Lamar Brown (Red Bank, N.J.), at 197. Brown fell to the eventual champion in the semifinals of his bracket, dropping a tough 3-2 bout to Cody Gardner of Ohio State. Brown then advanced to the third-place contest, falling to Buffalo’s Jimmy Hamel, 10-9 in overtime.
The other Scarlet Knight to place was sophomore McPaul Ogbonna (East Hanover, N.J.) at 184. Ogbonna defeated two other Scarlet Knights, redshirt freshmen Chris Orzechowski (Old Bridge, N.J.) and sophomore Mike Cucinotta (Gibbstown, N.J.) en route to a sixth-place finish at 184.
All three fell in their first bout, setting up a consolation second-round matchup between Ogbonna and Cucinotta. Ogbonna prevailed 2-1 and advanced to the consolation quarterfinals, where he defeated Orzechowski 3-2. The sophomore then fell to Jacon Dabishinski of Bloomsburg and Clint Podish of Clarion to finish in sixth. Junior Kellen Bradley (Newton, N.J.) at 149 and sophomore Paul Grogan (Netcong, N.J.) at 133 also competed for RU.
Rutgers next takes to the mat on Nov. 8, in the Oklahoma-Brockport Gold Tournament.
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