Rutgers Wrestling Places Four at Midlands
Dec 30 | Wrestling
EVANSTON, Ill. (Dec. 30, 2010) - The ninth ranked Rutgers wrestling team put forth a solid performance on the second day of the 48th Midlands Championships seeing four grapplers place led by Daryl Cocozzo (River Edge, N.J.) who finished fifth at 157 pounds. As a team, Rutgers finished 12th out of 44 schools despite only wrestling eight student-athletes due to various injuries and illnesses.
Cocozzo, who started the day as the long Scarlet Knight alive in their championship bracket, opened his day by dropping his semifinal match to seventh seeded Kyle John of Maryland sending him into the consolation bracket at 157 pounds. In his second match of the day, Cocozzo matched up with No. 1 seed Jake Patacsil and dropped a close decision by an 8-6 margin to send him to the fifth place match. In the fifth place bout, Cocozzo put on a clinic and cruised to a 9-4 decision over David Bonin of Northern Iowa.
Russo, who started his day in the heavyweight consolation bracket, picked up decisions over a pair of Big Ten opponents in Mike McClure of Michigan State and Mike McMullan of Northwestern before falling to Ryan Flores of American in the semifinals of the consolation bracket. Russo then dropped his fifth place match to John Helgerson of Wartburg to finish sixth.
Alex Caruso (Green Brook, N.J.) and Matt Fusco (Belleville, N.J.) also reached the podium for Rutgers finishing seventh and eighth in their respective brackets.
Carsuo knocked off Ben Jordan of Wisconsin in his first match before dropping a tight match to No. 2 Nick Amuchastegui of Stanford, 3-2, to send him to the seventh place match in the 174 pound bracket. In the seventh place bout, Caruso downed Pat Wright of Missouri, 3-1, to finish his day on a strong note.
Fusco, competing in the wrestlebacks at 125 pounds, opened his day strong by downing No. 7 seed Steven Keith of Harvard, 4-1. Fusco couldn't keep his momentum going as he fell to No. 3 Jarrod Patterson of Oklahoma sending him to the seventh place match where he dropped a tough 4-2 decision to Tyler Iwamura of Cal Bakersfield in overtime.
Trevor Melde (Hewitt, N.J.) and Dan Rinaldi (Lodi, N.J.) also competed for RU on the day, falling in their opening matches in their respective consolation brackets.
The Scarlet Knights return to action Friday, Jan. 7, when they travel north for duals against Harvard and Brown.
RU Wrestlers Placing at the Midlands Championships
125: Matt Fusco (8th)
157: Daryl Cocozzo (5th)
174: Alex Caruso (7th)
285: DJ Russo (6th)
RU Wrestlers at Midlands Championships
Matt Fusco - 125 Pounds
First Round: Tyler Iwamura (Cal Bakersfield) dec. Matt Fusco (RU), 2-0
Wrestlebacks: Matt Fusco (RU) m. dec. Ben Willeford (Cleveland State), 12-3
Wrestlebacks: Matt Fusco (RU) m. dec. John Sandoval (Arizona State), 9-1
Wrestlebacks: Matt Fusco (RU) dec. Pat Strizki (Maryland), 3-1
Wrestlebacks: Matt Fusco (RU) dec. #7 Steven Keith (Harvard), 4-1
Wresltebacks: #3 Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma) dec. Matt Fusco (RU), 4-1 Seventh Place Match: Tyler Iwamura (Cal Bakersfield) dec. Matt Fusco (RU), 4-2 (OT)
#9 Trevor Melde - 141 Pounds
First Round: Trevor Melde (RU) dec. Scott Mattingly (Central Michigan), 6-1 Second Round: Tristen DeShazar (Northern Illinois) pins Trevor Melde (RU), 0:15
Wrestlebacks: Trevor Melde (RU) pins Aaron Nestor (Rider), 2:03
Wrestlebacks: Trevor Melde (RU) m. dec. Cody Farinella (Missouri), 9-1
Wrestlebacks: #6 Todd Schavrien (Missouri) m. dec. Trevor Melde (RU), 13-2
Nick Visicaro - 157 Pounds
First Round: Pierce Harger (Northwestern) dec. Nick Visicaro (RU), 7-1
Wrestlebacks: Nick Visicaro (RU) dec. David Helmer (Northwestern), 8-5
Wrestlebacks: Nick Visicaro (RU) tech. fall Bronson Gerl (Cal Baptist), 19-4 (5:45)
Wrestlebacks: Jackson Morse (Illinois) dec. Nick Visicaro (RU), 12-5
#6 Daryl Cocozzo - 157 Pounds
Second Round: Daryl Cocozzo (RU) tech. fall Bronson Gerl (Cal Baptist), 17-1 (4:30) Third Round: Daryl Cocozzo (RU) dec. #11 Sean Bilodeau (Lehigh), 5-0
Quarterfinal: Daryl Cocozzo (RU) dec. David Bonin (Northern Iowa), 6-2
Semifinals: #7 Kyle John (Maryland) dec. Daryl Cocozzo (RU), 10-3
Wrestlebacks: #1 Jake Patacsil (C. Coll Club) dec Daryl Cocozzo (RU), 8-6
Fifth Place Match: Daryl Cocozzo (RU) dec. David Bonin (Northern Iowa), 9-4
#6 Alex Caruso - 174 Pounds
Second Round: Alex Caruso (RU) dec. Ben Friedl (Illinois), 1-0 Third Round: Alex Caruso (RU) dec. Brice Wolf (Northern Illinois), 3-2
Quarterfinal: #3 Ben Bennett (Central Michigan) dec. Alex Caruso (RU), 1-0
Wrestlebacks: Alex Caruso (RU) dec. #10 Ben Jordan (Wisconsin), 6-2
Wrestlebacks: #2 Nick Amuchastegui (Stanford) dec. Alex Caruso (RU), 3-2 Seventh Place Match: Alex Caruso (RU) dec. Pat Wright (Missouri), 3-1
#5 Dan Rinaldi - 184 Pounds
First Round: Dan Rinaldi (RU) m. dec. Cameron Croy (Harvard), 9-1 Second Round: Dan Rinaldi (RU) dec. #12 Lee Munster (Northwestern), 6-3
Quarterfinal: #4 Josh Ihnen (Nebraska) dec. Dan Rinaldi (RU), 3-2
Wrestlebacks: Ryan Loder (Northern Iowa) dec. Dan Rinaldi (RU), 6-4 (OT)
Mike Wagner - 197 Pounds
First Round: #4 Byron Tate (Wartburg) dec. Mike Wagner (RU), 6-3
Wrestlebacks: Mike Wagner (RU) m. dec. Phil Hawes (Iowa State), 12-4
Wrestlebacks: Derrick Borlie (Wisconsin) dec. Mike Wagner (RU), 9-4
No. 3 DJ Russo - 285 Pounds
Second Round: DJ Russo (RU) dec. Spencer Myers (Maryland), 3-2 Third Round: DJ Russo (RU) dec. Matt Gibson (Iowa State), 8-5
Quarterfinal: #6 Jarod Trice (Central Michigan) dec. DJ Russo (RU), 9-3
Wrestlebacks: DJ Russo (RU) dec. #7 Mike McClure (Michigan State), 5-1
Wrestlebacks: DJ Russo (RU) dec. #10 Mike McMullan (Northwestern), 8-4
Wrestlebacks: #4 Ryan Flores (American) dec. DJ Russo (RU), 12-5 Fifth Place Match: John Helgerson (Wartburg) dec. DJ Russo (RU), 6-4
# - indicates seed at 2010 Midlands Championships
