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RIT Wrestling Hosts TournamentDecember 15, 1989

On Friday, December 1, the day of openregistration this quarter, the MT Wrestlingteam was busy elsewhere. For the past weekthey had been practicing twice daily,preparing for their weekend tournament.But this time instead of traveling away tosome distant college, it was RIT’s turn toplay host.

Fourteen colleges from around thecountry; including Division I powerhouseKent State were invited to this season’s MT

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Invitational Wrestling tournament. Thiswould be the second major meet for theyoung, aggressive squad which had placed11th at the Ithaca Invitational. The team,coached by Earl Fuller, was ready to take onall opposition, ready to win at home.

Saturday started out slowly for RIT, asDwayne Henry (129-lb. weight class) andMorgan Esser (153 lbs.) both lost closematches and failed to advance in thestandings. MT also watched asJeff Frisk (161lbs.) battled back from a first-round defeatwith a win in his second match. Frisk couldnot continue his success and was pinnedand eliminated from competition in histhird match. Co-captain Rich Perry’s match,delayed due to a protest, did not take placeuntil late on Saturday. Time took its toll, asPerry was pinned halfway through theround and failed to place in the top six.

The team was down but not out as cocaptain Brain Hart and Ilais Diakomihalisboth coasted through early roundcompetition and continued on into thefinals on Sunday. Heavyweight Chris Mohrlost his opening match, 3-4, but defeated therest of his opponents to advance to thefinals. Dave Ciocca (170 lbs.) and co-captainJohn Boyd (180 lbs.) both wrestled wellenough to continue on and take part in nextday’s competition.

Sunday’s wrestling included five MTathletes battling for the top places in theirweight classes. Ilias Diakomihalis wrestledimpressively en route to first place bydefeating his final two opponents bydecisions. Diakomihalis leads MT with a10-1 match record. Chris Mohr continuedhis success and finished up third, winningtwo of his four wins by pinning hisopponents. Brain Hart wrestled hard onSunday but lost in the championship round,1-3, and ended the invitational in secondplace. Dave Ciocca andJohn Boyd droppedtheir final decisions but placed sixth in eachof their weight divisions.

As the invitational came to a close, MTexamined its results. The team finished upin sixth place, defeating all other DivisionIII opponents. Individually the team didwell, taking first, second, third and twosixth-place finishes. They gained experiencefrom the meet, experience that would helpthem along into the rest of the season. Butfor now, it would be more practicing, moredrills and more stretching.

PHJIOGRAPHED ANDWRrrrEN BY

ERIC JAKUBUKAS