FINAL DRAWS

ITHACA, N.Y. - The Columbia wrestling team concluded competition at the 44th Annual New York State Wrestling Championships Sunday, winning two titles in the 'B' tournament. Senior Robert Dyar claimed the title at 125 pounds, while sophomore Matt Idelson took top honors at 197 pounds.

Dyar made his way to the championship bout Sunday afternoon with three pins. Courtland's Tanavung Tim was the first to fall, going down in 1:04. Oswego's Jonathon Russo lasted just 30 seconds longer, as Dyar notched his second pin in 1:34. Kevin O'Hagan from Brockport also barely made it past the 90-second mark on the mat against Dyar, falling in 1:36. A fourth pin was not in the cards Sunday for Dyar, but a 4-2 decision over Buffalo's Mike Soria gave him the title.

Not to be outdone, Idelson also collected three pins and a decision en route to the 197-pound title. NYU's John Klein was the first to be taking down by Idelson, falling in 2:20. Francisco DeCristo from Cortland made it to the 4:12 mark before Idelson pinned him in the quarterfinals, while Buffalo's Zach Ward suffered the same fate at 2:53 in the semifinals. Cornell's Lukasz Stala eluded an Idelson pin, but came out on the short end of a 7-4 decision as Columbia tallied its fifth individual title of the weekend.

At 157 pounds, Jake Kazimir won three straight decisions before falling in the title bout, collecting runner-up honors. In his first match, Kazimir topped Hofstra's Mike Caputo, 4-0, and then edged Army's Brian Harvey, 3-2, in the quarterfinals. Cornell's Andrew Gonzalez went down in the semifinal match, 5-2, but FLWC's Taylor Simaz halted Kazimir's run with a 3-1 decision in the finals.

At 141 pounds, the Lions had a pair of wrestlers place, as sophomore Ryan Ponte edged first-year teammate Ryan Murdock for third. Ponte reached the main draw semifinals with an 8-0 blanking of Brockport's Joshua Brabon and a 3-0 defeat of Cornell's Connor David before dropping a close 5-3 decision to Army's Tyler Rauenzahn. Ponte shutout out his third opponent of the day in the consolation draw, taking down Ithaca's Tyler Edwards, 7-0. Ponte claimed third with a 5-0 decision over Murdock. Murdock reached the main draw semifinals with pins of Westchester's Kojo Boafeng and Brockport's Nicholas Roberts. After losing in the semifinal round, Murdock took a 4-1 decision to David to reach the third-place match.

At 165 pounds, junior Adam Fondale finished the tournament in fourth place. Fondale suffered a tough sudden victory loss in the opening round, but rebounded with five wins in the consolation draw. The Junction City, Ohio native notched three pins along the way, each in 95 seconds or less.

Sophomore Shane Hughes matched Fondale, taking fourth at 184 pounds. After dropping his first round matchup, Hughes recorded four wins in the consolation draw, including two pins and a tech fall (16-1) against Oswego's Cody LaFever. Hughes reached the third-place match with a close 4-2 decision over teammate Zach Hernandez who had reached the main draw semifinals before falling.

Columbia returns to action Saturday, Nov. 24 with a trip to Troy, N.Y. to compete at the Northeast Duals.