Two Finalists in Ben Willeford and Dan King Headline at Binghamton Open

Two Finalists in Ben Willeford and Dan King Headline at Binghamton Open

Cleveland State had three place in the top 3 at the Binghamton Open and another three wrestlers finished in the top 6. 

At 125, Ben Willeford finished in second place in his second finals appearance of the young season.  He was dominant getting there.  In his first match, he defeated Darian Cruz, a true freshman All American for Lehigh a year ago, by a 3-1 score.  He then won by technical fall, pin, and a 13-1 major decision in the semi-finals before falling by a very tight 8-6 score to Dalton Macri in the final giving him a 4-1 record on the day and second place.  At 133, Dan King finished in second place winning three matches by decision before losing in the finals to Chase Zemenak of Bloomsburg by a 5-0 score.  Zemenak is the only wrestler to beat King so far this year.  At 285, Riley Shaw finished in third after dropping an extremely close double overtime match to Jake Henderson of Old Dominion in the semi finals.  He defeated Matt Tourdot of Old Dominion (#27 in Wrestling Report Rankings) for third place by a 14-6 major decision to avenge a loss to Tourdot from last season.  All of Shaw's wins came by bonus points.  285 was once again one of the toughest weights of the tournament as the #23 ranked wrestler according to Wrestling Report from Cornell did not place. 

The other top 6 finishers for CSU were Latrell Davis at 157, Matt Donohoe at 165, and Xavier Dye at 184.  Davis had an impressive 5-2 record on the day in his first action of the season.  Donohoe also went 5-2 to follow up with another top 6 finish on the season and has now recorded 10 wins.  After dropping his first match, he rallied for five straight wins including a pin over the Clarion Open champion Ryan Preisch of Lehigh.  Dye went 3-2 with two major decisions and a fall.  He lost a very close consolation semi final match.

With six top 6 finishers, Cleveland State was certainly one of the top teams in a field full of teams from the EIWA and the east coast as well as redshirts from various schools.  Cornell led the way with eight in the top 6 while the host school Binghamton had seven.  Cleveland State, Old Dominion, and Princeton all had six in the top 6. 

Cleveland State will return to action in two weeks at the Navy Classic where a couple more wrestlers will make their season debut.

List of attached wrestlers and their records at Binghamton Open and season records:

125

Ben Willeford  (4-1, 9-1 overall)

Bobby Vedda ( 1-2, 2-4 overall)

133

Dan King (3-1, 8-3 overall)

Alfredo Gray (2-2, 5-4 overall)

141

Jayce Carr (2-2, 2-4 overall)

149

Chas Busz (1-2, 2-4 overall)

157

Latrell Davis (5-2, 5-2 overall)

165

Matt Donohoe (5-2, 10-4 overall)

Nathan Wynkoop (0-2, 3-4 overall)

184

Xavier Dye (3-2, 3-2 overall)

197

Kanez Omar (1-2, 3-4 overall)

Ray Stone (1-2, 3-4 overall)

285

Riley Shaw (4-1, 8-1 overall)

Amon Willis (1-2, 3-4 overall)