Senior Kyle Cerminara dominated the mat Saturday at the Oklahoma Gold Classic at SUNY Brockport, taking the title in the 197-pound division for the second time in as many tournaments while improving his overall record to an undefeated 8-0.
The UB wrestling team finished fifth of 11 teams and placed seven wrestlers. Cerminara proved he deserves his top-10 national rankings by defeating fellow nationally ranked wrestler Joe Dennis of Cleveland State 6-0 in the 197-pound finals.
"Kyle wrestled very well," said head coach Jim Beichner. "He dominated the match and beat (Dennis) very handily."
Cerminara worked over Stephen Spielgeleire of Brockport in the first round, winning by pin. He was then victorious over Kent State's Ben Rings by a score of 10-4, followed by a win over Ohio University's Larry Richard by a score of 7-5 en route to seizing the crown against Dennis.
However, in spite of Cerminara's success, Beichner felt the team's performance as a whole was unfulfilling.
"We wrestled three or four strong rounds," Beichner said. "We just seemed to have a letdown toward the end."
The Bulls started out strong in each weight class but could not follow up on early-tournament victories.
In the 165-pound division, sophomore Mickey Moran lost on riding time in the championship match 10-9 to Jarrod King of Oklahoma. Moran beat Brown University's Shawn Kitchner 6-4. Moran earned an escape in the final 30 seconds to defeat Army's Jon Anderson 10-9 and then won by injury default before losing the close battle to King.
Also at 165 pounds was sophomore Mike Ragusa who finished in fourth place. Ragusa won his first-round match over Kent State's Cory Mairer by a 4-0 margin, but like his teammate, was also downed by King 5-3. Ragusa came back to take out Brockport's Omi Ortiz 14-4 and then won by default in consolation matches to finish fourth.
At 133 pounds, junior Mark Budd followed up a first-place finish of his own at last weekend at Slippery Rock with a disappointing third-place finish Saturday. Budd won his first two matches by first pinning Justin Kimball of Brockport and then surpassing Army's Frankie Baughan 9-5. In his third match of the day, Budd lost to Albert Madison of Ohio University 4-2. Budd secured third place by winning in the consolation finals over Matt Eveleth of Pennsylvania, 5-2.
"Mickey (Moran) lost a close match against a pretty darn good kid," Beichner said. "Mark Budd looked good for most of the early rounds. They did a nice job of coming back."
Other Bulls that placed at the Oklahoma Gold Classic included junior Pat Lloyd, who finished fifth at 149 pounds, and a pair of sixth-place finishes from junior John Cummings at 157 pounds and sophomore Dana Gingerich at 141 pounds.
With 171 points, Oklahoma won in team scoring followed by another top-25 powerhouse in Pennsylvania with 166. Army finished third with 133 points in front of Kent State (130.5), UB (119), Rutgers (85), Ohio (81), Cleveland State (79.5), Bloomsburg (71.5), Brown (42.5) and host school Brockport (29).
The Bulls will use this event to further their development, according to Beichner.
"You have to go back and watch video and find the positives and negatives and build on it," Beichner said. "I'm confident. It's a hardworking, well-balanced team. We had a letdown and you leave disappointed when you don't achieve what you set out to do. But, we'll sharpen up. Our goal is to get better and to win."
The much-anticipated match between Cerminara and the nationally ranked No. 2 Josh Rosholt of Oklahoma, which was likely to occur over the weekend, never came to fruition. Rosholt was held out of competition for this tournament by the Sooners for what Beichner speculated were disciplinary reasons.
Cerminara looks to lead the Bulls into their home opener Saturday at 4 p.m. in Alumni Arena. The Bulls will host Bloomsburg, Findlay and Gardner-Webb
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
