On Sunday the Stony Brook Wrestling Club came away with a 31-18 win against Cortland. The Seawolves had the chance to wrestle at nearby Ward Melville High School, and put together one of their strongest efforts of the season.
The event had 127 people in attendance, and featured Stony Brook cheerleaders, a DJ and the school’s mascot, Wolfie. The meet also gave the team’s coaches and players the rare chance to wrestle in front of many of their family and friends.
“It was a good crowd, and we had a lot of supporters,” head coach Shaun Lally said. “It’s not very often they get to see us at home. They know how hard everybody’s working, and it’s great to put that on display.”
The Seawolves took on a familiar opponent in Cortland at the event. The two teams have wrestled the last three years, and have gradually been building up a rivalry.
Stony Brook would get the better of Cortland on this day, coming away with victories in eight of 11 matches, including the final five matches of the day.
It was two of the team’s freshmen wrestlers that were able to get SBU going early, and set the tone for the meet. Picking up a win in the opening match, 125-pound Austin Hecker and 133-pound Jonathan Crespo followed suit, coming away victorious in the second match.
Later on in the event Stony Brook got a pair of key pins from 197-pound Preston Garick and 235-pound John Campanelli. Coach Lally said that both men have been key contributors for the squad in recent months.
“This second semester they’ve been the anchor at the tail end of the lineup for us,” Lally said. “They’re strong guys that know how to work there opponents. They end up winning a lot for us.”
Additional winners included 157-pound Jean Ospina, 174-pound Matthew Frey, 184-pound Kristofer Martin, and 285-pound Lautaro Epstein. Coach Lally said the victory was a total team effort.
“Everybody’s doing their job,” he said. “Everybody went out there and did what they were supposed to do, and that’s why we ended up winning.”
Sunday’s event was Stony Brook’s final dual meet of the season. The Seawolves finished with a record of 7-6 in dual meets.
Now the team is preparing for the National Collegiate Wrestling Association Northeast Regional Conference Championships, which will take place this weekend.
Lally believes that the dealing with the pressure of wrestling on a bigger stage will not be a problem for his club, because the team now has experience participating in large events. The team had the opportunity to wrestle at an event at Madison Square Garden back in December.
“We’re ready for that bigger stage,” he said. “Everybody’s got to give themselves a chance to win. You don’t want to lose a match in the first 30 seconds. You don’t want to give the opponent any opportunity to capitalize on mistakes.”
The event will take place at New Hampshire University this Saturday, beginning at 8 a.m.
