Nine Pioneers All-Conference, Wrestling Places Third at Conference Championship
The Alfred State wrestling team finished third and had nine Pioneers on the podium for All-Conference honors at the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference Championship on Saturday hosted by Ithaca College.
The ECWC Championships features wrestlers from Ithaca, Cortland, Brockport, Oneonta, Oswego, RIT, Cortland, Pitt. Bradford. Top-six finishers in each weight class earn All-Conference accolades.
Justin Smith (Marcus Whitman) and Mike Galton (Warsaw) became the first conference finalists in program history. They were both runner-ups at 157 and 174 respectively.
Third place finishers include Dawsen Yates (Bolivar) at 133, Sean Peterson (Islip) at 141 and Justin Hoffman (Hadley) at 157.
Fifth place finishers include Jaden Hansen (Newburgh Free) at 133, Ryan Nugent (Newfane) at 157, Cale Bartosch (Palmyra Macedon) at 174 and Blake Ilges (Canisteo Greenwood) at 197.
Ithaca won the day with 151.5 points, Brockport were runners-up with 143.5 and Alfred State took third with 78.5 points.
The Pioneers are back on the mat Saturday, Jan. 22 for the Wildcat Open hosted by Johnson & Wales starting at 9 a.m.
