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SPORTS

The Norwich Guidon
Feb. 26, 2004

NU wrestlers finish fifth in NECCWA Championships

By Daryl Buttrick
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

John Capen attempts to pin an opponent during a match with Wesleyan College

Every year in one of the final weekends in February, the Norwich wrestling team travels to the New England College Conference Wrestling Association Championships. This year was a little different: for the first time, Norwich was looking to win the NECCWA title.

The Cadets were under a lot of pressure to be the first NECCWA champs in NU history. Norwich fell short, scoring 75 points with a fifth-place finish.

"We had high expectations for this weekend. There was a lot of pressure on us, and we were on top of the conference all year, and we had some big matches, but in the end we fell short," said senior Dustin Buttrick, 23, a psychology major from Eliot, Maine, who wrestles at 184 pounds.

Placing ahead of Norwich was Springfield 110.5, Trinity 88, Williams 86, and WPI with 80.5 points; there are 15 teams in the conference.

"It's kind of a disappointment that we didn't do as well as we had liked, but everyone on the team worked really hard; a lot of people stepped up and replaced some guys for injuries and other absences, and everyone performed as well as they could," said red shirt junior Matt Thurston, 20, a nursing major from Barre, Vt. Thurston was NECCWA runner-up in 2003.

Wrestling for the Cadets were sophomores Pat Howard at 125 pounds, sophomore Johnny Walker at 133 pounds, sophomore Niko Filippakis at 141 pounds, junior captain Dan Whelan at 149 pounds, sophomore Jake Rivers at 157 pounds, junior captain Jon Capen at 165 pounds, sophomore Shaun Vacher at 174 pounds, senior Dustin Buttrick at 184 pounds, junior Silver Oghayore at 197 pounds, and junior Sean Rockwell at 285 lbs.

The team is mostly sophomores and juniors, so they will only be losing one person from the line-up.

"Every one is going to be back next year, and we're going to work during the off season," Thurston said. "We're going to get everyone to fill up some weight classes, and we'll come in next season at full strength."

"We're looking forward to next season, because we return almost the whole team." said head wrestling coach Rich Hasenfus.

The cadets ended up with five wrestlers who made all-New England status, which is a top six in each weight class.

"We had five New England placers; we figured we'd place six or seven," Hasenfus said.

The Cadets who made all-New England were Pat Howard (4th), Dan Whelan (2nd), Jake Rivers (3rd), Jon Capen (4th), and Silver Oghayore (3rd).

Dan Whelan, 20, a criminal justice major from York, Maine, placed the highest with a second place finish. Whelan beat Dan Moskowitz from Plymouth State University in an earlier round. Whelan lost to Moskowitz in the finals with some debatable calls by the referee.

"In the finals we were disappointed with the outcome of the match," Hasenfus said. "We were up 7-1, and we felt the match got taken away from us."

Business major and junior captain Jon Capen, 24, of Peru, N.Y., had an outstanding weekend by placing fourth and getting his 26th pin and 30th win of the year.

Capen recently broke the school record for most pins in a career, which was 53. Capen ends this season with 55 pins in his career.

"I accomplished every goal I set for myself this year," Capen said. "I was pretty happy with my performance." Capen also set most pins in a season this year.

Other outstanding performances came from Buttrick, getting one pin and losing to two all-New England wrestlers. Buttrick made it to the quarterfinals of the tournament and wrestled Craig Buckley from Bridgewater State College. Buttrick took him into four overtimes. Buckley won the match by criteria, having 22 more seconds of advantage time (offensive time) than Buttrick; the final score was 2-2. Buckley won the tournament and is now a three time NECCWA Champion and all-American.

The cadets were disappointed that they did not do as well as they hoped.

"We wrestled really tough to get to where we are, but there were a few disappointing matches that didn't go our way, and we ended up not doing as well as we should have," said Jake Rivers a 19-year-old sophomore physical education major from Plattsburgh, N.Y. "We still competed hard and never put our heads down."

Jake Rivers takes down a Bridgewater State wrestler at WPI NECCWA Championships

This year was assistant coach Brian Schneider's final year at Norwich. He is a senior gunnery sergeant in the Norwich Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program. "I'm really proud of the guys. This is my last year with the team. They came out here and gave forth best effort," Schneider said.

The NECCWA championship is a qualifying tournament to go to the NCAA Division III championships. With a first-place finish, an individual may go to the NCAAs. The NECCWA gives out two wild cards; Whelan may receive a wild card bid to go to the nationals. Whelan is currently ranked seventh in the country.

The Norwich Guidon is a twice-monthly student newspaper distributed at Norwich University. It provides laboratory experience for students in the Communications program. Claims asserted by letter writers, editorials and other articles do not represent the positions of Norwich University. The Norwich Guidon welcomes signed letters to the editor. They should be no longer than 300 words. Unsigned letters will not be printed, but names may be withheld upon worthy request. All letters are subject to editing for length and good taste. Mailing address: The Norwich Guidon, Communications Center, Norwich University, Northfield, VT 056632. www.norwich.edu/guidon. If you have any questions or comments about the paper, please contact Professor Ken Bush at kbush@norwich.edu.