The wrestling team lost key members that may have derailed its success this season. But despite the team's current tribulations, senior Kevin Smith is steadily emerging as one of Buffalo's elite.
Smith earned the Bulls' (0-5) highest finish of their day at the Nittany Lion Open – a meet that featured 570 wrestlers from around the nation. Smith – Buffalo's 141-lb. wrestler – finished second place. The Bulls had three other wrestlers who also placed in the tournament: senior John-Martin Cannon, junior Chris Conti, and junior Mark Lewandowski.
Smith, who ranks 19th in the nation, was too much for his opponents to handle as he rolled his way into the finals. He shutout Columbia University's Ryan Porte (5-0), defeated Joe Rendina (7-3), and dominated Maryland's Louis Mascola (8-2). After he took out Army's Casey Smith (4-1), Smith earned a pass straight to the finals after his next opponent, Conti, was a medical forfeit for the match.
Smith's streak came to an end at the finals. Virginia Tech's Zach Neibert defeated the senior 7-3 to deny him of the championship crown in the weight class.
Smith was disappointed that he couldn't finish at the top, but head coach Jim Beichner feels that the senior has a lot to be proud of.
"Kevin Smith wasn't thrilled," Beichner said. "He came down to win the whole event, but despite that he did a great job. He gave a ton of effort. I think he is better than a few of these wrestlers and I think that he should have won, but he can take this result and use it for motivation for the next few matches."
Cannon returned to competition after sitting out Buffalo's last few meets because of his intention to redshirt the season. The 174-lb. wrestler dominated his matches at the UB Open, and he looked like he was going to do the same at Penn State as he beat two of his opponents by pin fall and technical fall.
But the senior had his winning streak cut short by No. 2 Ed Ruth of Penn State. Ruth downed Cannon 11-3 on his way to taking the title for the weight class. The redshirt senior finished the meet in third place after beating The Citadel's Turtogtokh Luvsandorj in his next match, 7-3.
Cannon was impressive despite his one loss, and Beichner believes the senior is still a work in progress.
"He is a guy that is always improving and doing all the right things," Beichner said.
Lewandowski had a tougher day than his teammates, wrestling seven matches in the 165-lb weight class. Fatigue wasn't a factor for the junior as he recorded four technical falls and a pin. But Lewandowski slipped up in the quarterfinals, losing against Virginia Tech's Peter Yates, 12-3.
The Depew, NY native came right back after the defeat, beating his next two opponents by technical fall and pinning Columbia's Eren Civan in the first round to finish in fifth place.
Conti suffered his lone loss of the day when he faced Maryland's Frank Goodwin after he declared his medical forfeit. Conti finished the meet in fourth place Beichner was satisfied about with team's performance. However, the Bulls will face No. 19 Central Michigan (6-2, 1-0 Mid-American Conference) next in their conference opener, and Beichner is aware that Buffalo is still at a disadvantage. "There's a lot of guys that should walk out feeling good about themselves," Beichner said. "But it's going to be tough [against Central Michigan] because of all the injuries. We won't quite have a full team going out there but regardless we will go down there against Central and find a way to win."
Buffalo's match against the Chippewas is scheduled for this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Alumni Arena.
Additional reporting by Nathaniel Smith
Email: sports@ubspectrum.com
