Cortland Standard .net

BRISTOL, R.I. — SUNY Cortland’s Joe Giaramita was expected to capture the 197-pound title at the NCAA Division III Northeast Regional Qualifiers over the weekend, and he did just that.
The top-seeded junior repeated as champion in his weight class in the two-day event held Saturday and Sunday at Roger Williams University, Giaramita earning a return trip to the NCAA Division III Championships in the process.
The surprise came from his Red Dragon teammate, freshman Adrian Berry. Seeded just seventh at 141 pounds, Berry knocked off the first, second and third seeds en route to a title and the regional’s Most Outstanding Wrestler award.
The top three finishers in each weight class earn trips to the Division III Championships, being March 13-14 in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
A second place showing by Cortland 184-pounder Tyler Beckwith gave the senior from Greene a trip to nationals, too. He upset the top seed in the semifinals on a late reversal before losing in overtime in the finals.
The Red Dragons had two wrestlers — sophomore Colin Barber at 165 pounds and senior Lance Moore at 285 pounds – just miss qualifying for nationals with fourth place finishes.
Cortland tied for fourth place out of 18 schools in the final team standings. Ithaca won the regional title with 128.5 points, followed by Johnson & Wales (106), Williams (101), Cortland and Roger Williams (96 each).
Giaramita, ranked second nationally at 197 pounds, finished with a 4-0 record and will enter nationals with a 27-1 record. After two wins Saturday, he opened Sunday’s action with a 7-2 semifinal decision over Isaiah Bellamy of Wesleyan.
In the final against second-seeded and nationally fifth-ranked David Welch of Roger Williams, Giaramita was leading 7-2 in the second period when Welch injury defaulted the match.
Berry finished 4-0 with two pins and is now 24-13. After two pins on Day One, Berry beat third-seeded Nick Wahba of Ithaca in the semifinals 3-2 — scoring his points on an escape and a takedown early in the third period. Wahba registered an escape, but neither wrestler scored over the final 1:37.
Berry decisioned top seed and nationally sixth-ranked Michael Ferinde of Johnson & Wales 9-4 in the finals. He snapped a 2-2 tie with a takedown and near fall with 50 seconds left.
Beckwith, ranked fifth nationally at 184 pounds and the fourth seed in his weight class at the regional, followed up two Saturday wins with a 6-5 semifinal decision over top-seeded and nationally second-ranked Christopher Chorzepa of Williams. Beckwith trailed 5-4 before scoring the winning points on a reversal with 10 seconds left.
Beckwith fell to third seed and nationally ninth-ranked Jonathan Deupree of Southern Maine in the finals in overtime. Deupree scored a takedown toward the end of regulation to take a 4-2 lead, but Beckwith got a reversal late to force overtime. Deupree, however, registered a takedown and near fall in the first sudden-victory period for the win.
Beckwith finished the regional 3-1 and will bring a 23-4 record to nationals.
Barber finished with a 3-2 record at regionals and ends the season with a 35-13 record. The fourth seed at 165 pounds, Barber had advanced to the semifinals with two wins Saturday. He lost in the semis to top seed and nationally fourth-ranked Dylan Foley of Springfield, 3-2, on a third-period escape.
Barber bounced back to win 2-1 over Coast Guard’s Michael Palomba by virtue of a riding time point, but lost 3-2 to second seed and nationally eighth-ranked Francisco Colom of Roger Williams in the third-place match that decided the final national qualifier. Barber trailed 3-1 in the third and eventually scored a point due to Colom stalling with 13 seconds left but was unable to record the decisive takedown.
Moore entered as the third seed and nationally 10th-ranked at 285 pounds. Coming off two shutout decisions Saturday, Moore lost in Sunday’s semifinals by pin in 3:58 to ninth-ranked and second-seeded James Bethel of Oneonta. Bethel went on to upset the previously undefeated top seed from Rhode Island College in the finals.
Moore then stayed alive with a 3-0 decision over Ithaca’s Daniel Glinko, but missed qualifying for nationals after falling, 5-2, to Kyle Foster of Roger Williams in the third-place match. The Johnson City native went 3-2 at the regional and finishes the season 26-7.
Three other Cortland wrestlers lost their first consolation matches Sunday and were eliminated with 2-2 records, sophomore Matt Bradice at 125, senior Paul Fields at 133 and junior Joe Cataldo at 174.