Three Bears Advance to Day Two of NCAA Regional Championships

By Jim Fenton

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Three Bridgewater State University wrestlers advanced to the second day of the NCAA Division III Region One Championships Saturday.

Senior Malcolm Chrispin (Hyde Park, Mass.), at 141 pounds, freshman Ethan Buonanducci (Enfield, Conn.), at 133 pounds, and freshman Avery Carl (Bridport, Vt.), at 157 pounds, all rebounded after sustaining early losses and will continue competing in the consolation round Sunday.

The two-day tournament, hosted by the Coast Guard Academy at the Dr. Hallie Gregory Field House, concludes with championship semifinal-round matches and consolation quarterfinal-round matches beginning at 10 a.m.

After one day, BSU is 13th out of 19 teams with 32 points.

Springfield College leads the way with 104.5 points followed by Williams College (98), Vermont State Castleton (96), Coast Guard (93) and Johnson & Wales (91).

Chrispin has a 3-1 record, winning three matches in a row after dropping the opener.

He lost to #3 seed Ty Trickle (So., Phoenix, Ariz.) of Trinity College by a 12-1 major decision.

After that, Chrispin won a major decision, 10-2, over senior Jake Eckerle (Northport, N.Y.) of Johnson & Wales and scored a win by fall at 1:38 over junior Matt Bonato (Syracuse, N.Y.) of Utica.

Chrispin then won a 10-1 major decision over #9 Michael Follo (Jr., Derry, N.H.) of New England College.

His next matchup is while sophomore Nicolas Balella (Hackettstown, N.J.) of Vermont State Castleton.

Buonanducci, the #6 seed at 133, won his opener by technical fall at 5:12 over freshman Taylor Tan (Rosemead, Calif.) of Wesleyan, then lost a 15-4 major decision to #3 Esuar Ordonez (Rosemead, Calif.) of Springfield.

A victory by an 8-2 decision over #8 Jake Strianese (Fr., Oceanside, N.Y.) of Williams followed that. Buonanducci will face sophomore Stone Farnsworth (Hope, R.I.) of Vermont State Castleton on Sunday morning.

Carl began his day with a 15-11 decision loss to #5 seed Matthew Rodriguez (So., East Meadow, N.Y.) of Western New England, then won by fall at 1:10 over freshman Durkin Stankevich (Woodbury, Conn.) of Trinity.

A forfeit victory gave him a spot in the next round against Will Hunt (Providence, R.I.) of Rhode Island College.

Chrispin, Buonanducci and Carl will each need to win three straight bouts on Sunday to finish in third place and earn a spot in the NCAA Division III Championships.

Three members of the BSU team went 1-2 on the first day.

Junior Christian Curley (Bridgewater, Mass.), seeded seventh at 197, won the opener against freshman Matt Riche (Freeport, N.Y.) of Utica by fall at 1:04, then lost by a decision to #2 seed Nick Rogers (Sr., Watertown, N.Y.) of Springfield College, 5-1, and a 4-1 sudden victory decision to junior Joseph Bernard (Stratham, N.H.) of WPI.

Sophomore James Calabrese (Foxborough, Mass.), at 174, had a forfeit win in his second match but lost by fall and technical fall.

Senior Sei Dolomengi (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), at 125 pounds, lost his first match, then defeated junior Ethan Titus (Canton, Conn.) of Western New England by a 7-5 decision before being eliminated on a technical fall. Dolomengi wraps up his BSU career with 49 wins.