With Five Individual Champs, Cardinals Roll to Team Title at Plymouth St. Invitational

1.10.09

Wesleyan captured five individual titles during the Plymouth St. Invitational Sat., Jan. 10 to lock up a team title with 189 points, outdistancing second-place NYU by 36.5 points in the eight-team affair. Four NEWA squads were represented as Plymouth St., Bridgewater St. WNEC and Coast Guard attended the invitational while Springfield sent a "B" squad.

Leading the way for the Cardinals was 125-pounder Dan Bloom '10 (main photo) as he captured his third regional title this season with his 3-0 mark. He has now moved up to 10th place nationally in Division III. Also winning their bracket were Dave Bachy '10 (photo insert lower right) at 149 pounds, Charles Hoeg '11 (photo insert lower left) at 157 pounds, Josh Berkovic '10 (photo insert upper right) at 165 pounds and Dan Conroy '10 (photo insert upper left) at heavyweight. Two other Cardinals were runners-up in their respective weight class as nationally ranked (10th) 174-pounder Greg Hurd '10 fell to the tournament's outstanding wrestler from NYU, 5-2, in the title bout. At 157 pounds, it was an all-Wesleyan final as Hoeg knocked off teammate Zach Rolfe '10, 2-1.

Wesleyan has completed its in-season tournament action and will now head into a series of 14 dual matches over the next month, facing just about every conference opponent depending upon the seeding in the NEWA Duals at Roger Williams Sun., Jan. 18. Prior to that, the team visited Roger Williams for a one-on-one dual match with the Hawks Wed., Jan. 14. Roger Williams, ranked fourth in New England, took the match, 24-13. Wesleyan, rated sixth regionally, captured four bouts including three in a row early on for a 10-3 lead. Hoeg and Berkovic showed why the took titles at PSU by winning their matches and Hurd followed with a major decision. But RWU took the next three bouts to move ahead 15-10. Bloom scored a final-moment decision to keep the outcome in doubt as the Cards trailed 15-13 with two bouts remaining. The Hawks took both to cinch the victory.