Several Other S9 Alum Notch Wins At Very Tough D1 Event
Congratulations to Minisink Valley graduate Gerard Daly for his 2nd place finish at 125 pounds at Sunday’s Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open at Binghamton University. Every year the event attracts some of the top collegiate wrestling talent in the northeast and this year was no exception as Sunday’s field boasted several national champions and All Americans!
Daly, who is a true freshman at D1 Sacred Heart, came out of the gate on fire with a 17-0 tech fall over Chris Martorello from Franklin and Marshall followed by a 14-2 major decision over Mike Macklin from Bucknell. In the quarters, Daly posted a 7-5 win over Josh Patrick from Rutgers and then punched his ticket to the finals with a resounding 11-5 win over Penn State’s Kenny Yanovich. In the finals Daly fell just short dropping a very close 5-3 decision to Lehigh All-American Darian Cruz who is currently ranked 11th in the nation! Congratulations Gerard!
Let’s not forget about the other Section 9 performances at the Bearcat! MW graduate Vinny Vespa, now a true freshamn at West Point Prep, went 4-2 at 133. Warwick graduate and current senior at Army Shane Connolly has decided to return to the mat this season and was very impressive on Sunday going 3-2 at 157. He notched a victory over former NYS Champion Jake Restrepo (Maryland) and both of Connolly’s losses were to wrestlers who placed in the top 6 in the tournament. Onteora graduate Austin Weigel, who wrestles at 174 for Buffalo, went 4-2 at the Bearcat including a clutch 3-1 sv win over national qualifier Brian Harvey from Army. Port Jervis graduate Dylan Booth also had a very good day going 2-2 wrestling at 125 for SUNY Sullivan. Other Section 9 graduates who competed included Johnny Grandson (SUNY Sullivan/Middletown), Bryan Mongiello (Brockport State/Washingtonville), Justin Robledo (SUNY Sullivan/Middletown), Rob Cuomo (SUNY Sullivan/Saugerties), and Jonathan Cirino (SUNY Sullivan/Middletown).