Lester Leads Wrestling at Binghamton Open
11/14/2010 8:16:00 PM | Wrestling
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - Kevin Lester's second place finish at heavyweight highlighted a solid showing by the Columbia wrestling team at the Binghamton Open on Sunday, November 14. Three other Lions placed in the first tournament of the season, including Matt Bystol who placed fourth at 133, Steve Santos who took third at 149, and Nick Mills who placed fifth at 184.
"Today was a good test for us and served the purpose of letting us know where we stand," said Brendan Buckley, the Andrew F. Barth Head Coach of Wrestling. "We had mixed results, but feel there were a lot of positive things to take from the day, and now know what we need to work on."
Lester went 3-1 for the day en route to his second place finish. The junior pinned his first two opponents, Stryler Lane of Cornell in 5:17, followed by Matt Tourdot of Old Dominion in 1:02. Next up, Lester defeated Hofstra's Zeal McGrew 6-2 to advance to the heavyweight finals. In a tight battle, it was Notre Dame's Orlando Scales who came out on top, edging Lester, 9-4.
At 149 pounds, Santos finished 4-1 to place third in his weight class. The sophomore jumped out to a strong start winning his first three bouts of the day. He was dominant in his first match, defeating Ethan Swope, 7-1. His next two matches were much closer, defeating Zac Cibula of Rider 2-1 and Jeffery Pelton of Notre Dame 3-2. His lone loss of the day came to eventual champion Kyle Dake, ranked No. 2 nationally, by an 8-0 mark. Santos claimed third by upsetting No. 13 Donald Vinson of Binghamton, 5-1 in the first tie-breaker.
In his first collegiate competition, Bystol placed fourth at 133 pounds after going 3-2. The first-year defeated John Fleming of Gannon 6-0, followed by a 5-0 decision over Cornell's Connor David. Bystol then edged Adam Krop of Princeton 3-2, before dropping his final two matches to No. 12 Kyle Hutter of Old Dominion and Jimmy Kirchner of Rider.
Mills, who returned to the mat after missing last season due to injury, placed fifth at 184 pounds. The sophomore defeated Sacred Heart's TJ Neidhart 9-2 and then downed Harrison Cook of Penn 9-7. After a setback to Cornell's No. 5 Steve Bosak, Mills bounced back for a 3-1 overtime win over William George (FLWC), and then pinned Alex Denman of Notre Dame in 4:41. In his final match, Mills had another overtime win, this time a 5-3 victory over Kevin Bailey of Lehigh.
Columbia returns to the mat next weekend, competing at the Disney DI Duals. The tournament will take place in Orlando, Fla. on Saturday, November 20. The Lions will face Indiana at 1 p.m., followed by The Citadel at 3 p.m.
