Thunderwolves send 10 to nationals, win Northeast District title Saturday

For only the third time in program history, SUNY Niagara is sending a whole bus-load of grapplers to Iowa.

With an overall team score of 119 points, the Thunderwolves won their 28th NJCAA Region III and 25th Northeast District championships in program history Saturday at Jamestown CC. The blue-and-gold finished 28.5 points ahead of the runners-up, Nassau CC, and had all 10 of its wrestlers advance to the NJCAA national championships March 6-7 in Iowa.

Trevor Copes (141), Aidan Gillings (149), Matt Leehan (157), Joseph Cicco (165), Bobby Ranger (184) and Jacob Stephenson (197) all won first-place in their weight divisions. Jaron Barrientos (125), Vinny Falsetti (133) and Aiden Poe (174) placed second and Hamza Merrick (285) placed third at 285 and punched his ticket to nationals as a wildcard.

SUNY Niagara head coach Keith Maute received Northeast District I Coach of the Year honors, who also was the head coach when 10 went to nationals in 2012 and 2021. Falsetti, Cicco, Poe and Ranger all advanced to nationals for the second time in their careers.

Including the six from Saturday, SUNY Niagara has produced 164 Northeast District champions. Bob Sanders became SUNY Niagara’s (then Niagara CC) first district champion when he won the 150-pound division in the 1974-75 season, just the program’s second year.

Saturday marked the 63rd edition of the Northeast District Championships. The district has produced 27 NJCAA national champions since 1963. SUNY Niagara is tied with Delhi College for the most all-time with six (Willie Moore 1977, Mark Jurek 1989, Dan Uhteg 1991, Rashad Evans 2000, Troy Keller 2018, Jordan Bushey 2020).