Jackpot in Vegas

Stalwart senior Kyle Cerminara achieved a distinct honor Friday, eclipsing the 113-career-wins mark of Gary Cooper to etch his name in the record book as UB's leader in career wins.

Cerminara dominated Sin City this past weekend and was crowned champion of his weight class as he extended his winning streak to 19-0 on the season. As a team, UB placed 16th in a 52-team field at the 2005 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational at the Cashman Center.

Despite achieving the lifetime record, Cerminara said he wants more.

"I'm not really interested in milestones like that," Cerminara said. "I'm glad to have it, but I'd like to add 25 or 30 more wins to it."

Cerminara was slotted as the No. 2 seed in his weight class in a field of 48 wrestlers. The senior started the tournament by ousting 29th-ranked Mark Thompson of The Citadel, 5-3, to tie the record held by Cooper, who wrestled at UB from 1998 to 2003.

Cerminara then surpassed Cooper with a 9-0 whitewash of Chris Chambers of Cal. St. Fullerton and took out Missouri's 13th-ranked Jeff Foust in another one-sided victory, 7-1, to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.

The hulking Bull carried the momentum from his landmark victories on Friday to the semifinals on Saturday, where he continued to charge. The 197-pounder found himself down early in his semifinal match against Ryan Goodman of North Carolina State, but rallied back with three takedowns to earn an 8-6 victory, and advance to the finals.

Cerminara was pitted against 10th-ranked Jerry Rinaldi of Cornell in a very technical championship match. He achieved an early takedown and a late reversal on Rinaldi en route to taking the championship match, 5-3, to complete a monstrous weekend.

Rinaldi's three points were each escape points, which indicate that Cerminara allowed him to score them.

Head coach Jim Beichner knows Cerminara has set his focus on bigger things.

"Kyle has made it very clear that he wants to win a national title," Beichner said. "(Breaking Cooper's record) is a pat on the back, but he's clear on what his goals are."

Cerminara placed his stake amongst the elite in college wrestling defeating three nationally-ranked opponents and put his season win streak at 19, five shy of John Stutzman, who holds the UB school record of 24 consecutive victories.

"That record I'm more interested in," Cerminara said. "If you wrestle good wrestlers and beat them consecutively, it means more. To win consecutively means you're not losing and I would like to go undefeated."

In other action for the Bulls, junior 133-pounder Mark Budd won his first two matches before a disappointing loss. Mark Moos of Michigan ended his run for the title in the quarterfinals with a takedown and a near fall in the final seconds, beating Budd 8-6. In the consolation round, Budd wrestled to a 5-2 win over Zach Tanelli from wrestling powerhouse Wisconsin before falling 9-4 to Brett Allgood of Division II Nebraska-Kearney.

The 165-pound sophomore Mickey Moran also started off well before losing his third match. Moran dominated his first two opponents, but Patrick Pitsch of Arizona State, ranked 11th nationally, stopped Moran with a 2-0 victory. Moran then lost to Old Dominion's Nelson Gosnell 6-3 in a consolation match.

The story was the same for senior heavyweight Harold Sherrell, who won a 16-1 technical fall in his first match and then won by pin in the second round, but lost his third match to Cody Parker of Oregon 9-3. Sherrell was then ousted by Jon Andriac of Hofstra 3-0 to end his day.

Despite early-round successes and Cerminara's championship, the Bulls' coaching staff wasn't completely satisfied.

"Overall, for the first half-day the whole team wrestled very well," Beichner said. "Then from the latter part of the first day on, we made mistakes."

Cerminara looks next to extend his winning streak as the team heads to the War at the Shore against nationally ranked Edinboro University in Erie, Penn., at the Civic Center Friday at 8:30 p.m. The Fighting Scots, who finished fourth at the Las Vegas Invitational, are ranked 22nd in the nation as a team, and defeated the Bulls last year in a dual meet.