Columbia
New York State Championships
Jeff Sato Wins 125-lb. Title to Lead Wrestling to Fourth Place in N.Y. State Championships
1/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Sato wanted to win another state title, to make up for 2005, and he got it, leading Columbia to fourth place in the 17-team field at Oswego State. Dustin Tillman finished second at 165 pounds, and four other Lions placed.
Coach Brendan Buckley brought only four of his 10 regular starters to Oswego, permitting the others to rest following last week's grueling Virginia Duals. But Sato insisted on coming.
"I came to the New York State tournament again to get the job done," he said. Sato had reached the championship match at 125 last year, but lost to nationally-ranked Mark McKnight of Buffalo, 5-3. "That match was my motivation to come here," Sato explained.
The senior from Pismo Beach, Calif., who improved his record to 16-6, opened the tournament rather slowly against Matt Myers of Hunter.
"It took a while to find my rhythm and start running up the score," he said. Sato, seeded first, beat Myers by major decision, 10-0, and then topped Zach Condidorio of Alfred State, 8-2. In the semifinals, he pinned 4th-seeded Ryan Gadsby of Cortland in 5:38.
Sato met William Simpson of Army in the finals. The third-seeded Cadet had upset second-seeded Jon Spinner of host Oswego, 6-1.
"I felt very good against Simpson," Sato said. "Jeff wrestled smart," Buckley said. "He had a nice takedown to start, and then late in the match, he was in a crab ride, and reversed out of it, and got back points, too. Jeff had a good tournament." Sato became the fifth Lion to earn more than one New York State championship, the first since Erik Norgaard in 2001 and 2003. He is one of four with two titles; Nick Szerlip won three straight in the mid-1990's.
Sato was nearly joined on the winner's platform by Tillman, a junior who returned to the mats this season after a two-year religious mission.
Seeded third, Tillman (Fremont, Calif.) pinned his first two opponents, from Alfred State and NCCC, to reach the semifinals, where he downed Brian Lockard of Ithaca College, 5-1.
Tillman more than held his own In the 165-lb. championship bout against top-seeded Jon Anderson of Army. The match was tied with scant time to go, but Anderson got a late score for the win.
Four other Lions earned places. Buckley singled out two, senior Eric Amstutz and sophomore Nick Sommerfeld.
Amstutz (Herndon, Va.), who hadn't wrestled since late December's Midlands Open, placed fourth at 133 pounds. Unseeded, he defeated an Alfred State wrestler by an 18-1 technical fall, and then topped 4th-seeded Eddie Ortiz of Cortland, 8-1. In the semifinals, he lost to Mark Budd of Buffalo, the top seed and eventual champion, 8-2. In the consolation bracket, the Lion beat Lee Comstock of RIT, 3-2, but lost the third-place match to 3rd-seeded Joe Jewett of Oswego.
Sommerfeld (Transfer, Pa.) was making his first appearance of the season after being sidelined by a pre-season injury. He lost his first match of the season to the fourth seed, 7-4, but fought back in the consolations with a 7-2 win over a man from Nassau Community, a pin in less than a minute vs. NYU, another pin against a Morrisville man, and a 6-5 squeaker over Phil Archer of Cortland.
That brought him up against 4th-seeded Nick Calandrino of Cortland, his first opponent, but Calandrino won again, this time by fall. Sommerfeld, however, won the fifth-place bout, 5-3 over 3rd-seeded Zach Greenberg of RIT.
Junior Dean Kinports (La Mesa, Calif.) also took a fifth, at 141 pounds, while two men finished seventh -- junior John Grando (Pueblo, Colo.) at heavyweight and sophomore Ray Resnick (Media, Pa.) at 184.
Their efforts enabled Columbia to finish fourth with 93 points, behind Army, Buffalo, and Cornell. Although he didn't enter most of his regulars, "We had a pretty good tournament," Buckley noted.
The Lions return to the dual-meet circuit next Saturday, January 28, at Rider, and then repeat some of the matchups this weekend when they host Army in University Gym Wednesday, February 1, at 7 p.m.
The 37th New York State Championships, Oswego, N.Y. Complete results at http://www.oswego.edu/athletics/teams/wrestling
Army 143, Buffalo 121.5, Cornell 105.5, COLUMBIA 93, Ithaca 87, Cortland 86, Brockport 69.5, Oswego 68.5, RIT 64, Oneonta 51, NYU 47.5, Hunter 46.5, Nassau 41.5, Morrisville 24, NCCC 19.5, Alfred State 11.5, Jamestown 2.5.
The Championship Round:
125 - Jeff Sato, Columbia, dec. William Simpson, Army, 6-2
133 - Mark Budd, Buffalo, dec. Frank Baughan, Army, 8-7
141 - Paul LeBlanc, Cortland, dec. Gene Kobilansky, NYU, 3-2
149 - Patrick Simpson, Army, dec. Pat Lloyd, Buffalo, 13-2
157 - Jad Duca, Ithaca, dec. Brian Rowan, Army, 5-2
165 - Jon Anderson, Army, dec. Dustin Tillman, Columbia, 6-5
174 - Luke Hogle, Cornell, dec. Joey Hooker, Cornell, 3-1 OT
184 - Garrett Hicks, Buffalo, dec. Terry Madden, Hunter, 10-9
197 - Kyle Cerminara, Buffalo, dec. Charles Martin, Army, 14-5
Hwt - Pat Bennett, Brockport, dec. Harold Sherrell, Buffalo, 3-2
Players Mentioned
