The following is an excerpt from the SUNY Oneonta wrestling website. Great job James!
The SUNY Oneonta wrestling team began its season today with its annual trek to King’s College to participate in the Monarch Invitational. The Red Dragons finished the day with 42.5 points, which was good enough for an eighth place finish overall. Roger Williams University took home the team title, scoring 140 points overall, which was 20 points more than second place York College.
The highlight for the event was the performances of a couple of rookies for Oneonta, as freshman Anthony Messina (Farmingville/Sachem East) and James Bethel(Saugerties/Saugerties) impressed in their collegiate debuts. Bethel finished second at 285 lbs. while Messina knocked off three seeded wrestlers during his day at 133 lbs.
Bethel earned a No. 6 seed for his opening tournament and easily defeated his first opponent, David Wilks of Wilkes University 6-0. He then knocked off third-seeded, Samuel Batchelor, of Lycoming with a 5-4 decision to advance into the semifinals of the championship bracket.
Bethel faced the No. 2 seed, Mike Spencer of York, in the semifinals and earned a pin in four minutes. In the championship match, he went up against the top seed, Lance Moore of SUNY Cortland, who was also a preseason top-10 wrestler. Unfortunately his run would end with a 11-5 defeat.
Minisink Valley graduate Kyle Diesel finished 3rd at 174 in the tournament. His only loss was a 4-3 decision to eventual champion Tyler Rhodes of York. Great job both guys!