Season Preview The 2005-06 season was a milestone year for the Cortland wrestling team. At 157, look for senior John The Red Dragons went 13-3 in dual meets on their way to a sixth-place showing Franchi to be a factor second semester. at the NCAA Division III Championships, matching the third-best national finish He’s a returning Scholar All-American in school history. Combine that with team runner-up finishes at the Ithaca, who has one semester of eligibility Monarch, Oneonta and Empire Conference tournaments and you have a very left. Franchi is a strong, slick wrestler successful and exciting campaign. who has challenged the best in the The team had a great deal of individual success as well, highlighted by conference over the last two years. junior Stef Sair’s individual national title at 174 pounds, Cortland’s first crown in Until his return, look for transfer 16 years. Cortland also crowned its first New York State Collegiate champion in Zack Bogardus to battle with three 16 years with freshman Paul LeBlanc winning the title at 141 pounds. LeBlanc freshmen for this spot. Bogardus comes added a fourth-place finish at nationals to become an All-American and went off a year in which he was a JUCO 38-4 in his first college season. Several other wrestlers had sensational seasons national qualifier and placed at the as well, such as sophomore 125-pounder Ryan Gadsby, who qualified for state championships. Freshmen Corey nationals and was one point away from bringing home All-America honors. Barber, Tyler Sick and Chris Coward Junior Eddie Ortiz, at 133 pounds, won a career-high 22 matches last season all come in with impressive resumes. and placed in 4-of-5 tournaments. Juniors John Franchi and Mario Schiano Barber is a two-time state runnerup played major roles in the team’s success placing in almost every tournament who is a very dangerous wrestler from and each coming one match away from the nationals. Sophomore Phil Archer anywhere on the mat. Sick was a state stepped in at 197 and won 20 matches, including several key wins throughout qualifier in high school as well. Look for the season. Junior Matt Eldredge wrestled at 197 and heavyweight and had his big things from these guys over the next best season yet with 14 wins, nine by fall. few seasons. Fifth-year head coach Brad Bruhn is very optimistic about the upcoming At 165 pounds, the Red Dragons season. He has again brought in a strong class of freshmen and transfers, and Senior John Franchi will have a few guys that should battle for the team also has three wrestlers coming back from injuries. Eight of 10 starters wrestle during the second the spot that Troy Tooley dominated return from last year’s squad, losing only Jason Chase and Troy Tooley, who will semester. last year. Bruhn pictures junior transfer both still be in the room as coaches this year. The Red Dragons have trained Jesse Fendryk stepping in where Tooley hard in an effort to capture the conference title and hopefully climb the ladder left off. Fendryk had a tremendous high school career and comes to Cortland at the national level as well. from Sacred Heart where he was a starter at 157 pounds. Junior transfer The coaching staff remains consistent with the great additions of Chase Matt Champion and freshman Mike Ciaburri add great depth to this weight. and Tooley. Bruhn, head assistant Cory Christensen (third year) and assistant Champion returns to wrestling after a few years at community college, and Jason Reynolds (seventh year) all return from last year’s staff. Bruhn hopes that Ciaburri is a two-time Section Five runnerup. with the solid team and dedicated staff the 2006-07 Red Dragons can continue Sair returns to defend his title at 174 pounds. He showed last season that the great tradition of Cortland wrestling. he has the talent and the determination to be the best. Bruhn doesn’t see that Gadsby leads the way at 125 pounds. He came on strong last year and changing this season. The only thing that may change is his weight class. Sair turned heads with his near All-America run. Being so close should motivate will either be back at 174 or go up to 184 if it looks like a better fit for him and him to go the extra mile and improve on last season. He’ll be challenged by the team. Until he’s done with football, look for senior Mario Schiano to take freshman Dave Colagiovanni, who is fresh off a state runner-up performance over the spot. Schiano finished third at the conference tournament at 184 last last season and looking season. He could have a big year if he gets to stay at 174 all season. Freshman to continue that Joe Dolson is coming off a medical red-shirt year and hopes to get back the success at the college form that saw him qualify twice and place once at the high school level. level. Look for several At the 184-pound weight class, look for sophomore Treavor LeBlanc to other freshmen to be have a big year. A dangerous wrestler who can score in bunches, LeBlanc is in the mix as well, such coming off an early-season injury in 2005-06. He won 23 matches his freshman as Nick Tonini, Anthony year and is looking to improve on that performance. He’s established himself as Small, Bryan Catalano a leader and is ready to lead by example this year. Add in tough freshman Barry and Dave Castagna. Gibson and this will be a very good weight again this year. At 133 pounds, Phil Archer is in his junior year and looks to continue where he left off at Ortiz looks to take 197 last season, when he was one point away from a trip to nationals. Archer the next step with a is one of the team leaders and is helping to make this a great team. He worked run at nationals. He extremely hard over the summer and will be a force. had a very strong off Two wrestlers will battle for the heavyweight spot to start the season. season and hopes to Senior Matt Eldredge has taken on the task of bulking up over the summer to take the majority of move from 197 to 285. He wrestled here some last season and now has his Senior Eddie Ortiz won a career-high 22 the matches here. weight up to be even more competitive. Eldredge is one of the last wrestlers Newcomer Michael from Bruhn’s first year and has become a very solid wrestler over the last matches last season. Colagiovanni could few years. Challenging for the spot will be freshman Joe Murphy, who was a compete with Eddie 215-pounder last year in high school. He also spent the summer putting on if he decides to go down to 133. Colagiovanni is a transfer that spent most some size to help out at heavyweight. Murphy’s a bit raw at this time, but of last season on the shelf with an injury. Freshmen Matt Cosgrove and Jared he’ll improve quickly with his tremendous work. Bruhn has two legitimate Malinowski will look to fill in should the opportunity arise. heavyweights for the first time in a few years and that’s a promising way to LeBlanc will set his sites on a national championship at 141 pounds this round out the lineup. season. He had a tremendous off season, which included a training trip to the Ukraine, and he’ll be tough to beat this season. LeBlanc will have a strong challenger in freshman Manny Alayon, who is coming of an injury that ended his season last year after just two competitions. Alayon is a strong wrestler who is improving rapidly. You also might see Michael Colagiovanni here along with freshman Robert Daly from time to time. The 149-pound weight class will see some great competition in the room this season. Senior Jack Holmgren is back for his final season after sitting out last year. He was a two-year starter and has shown tremendous talent at times over his career. Also look for junior Eric Sciutto, senior Alex Hojnowski and sophomore Kyle Reeb to battle for time here. All three had strong seasons last year and are looking to take control of the spot. Throw in several talented freshmen in Kevin Sackett, Dan Eberlein and Will Brodfuehrer, and there’ll be some battles in the practice room. It remains to be seen who’ll come out on Senior Matt Eldredge moves up to heavyyweight in top, but they will be battle-tested. 2006-07. CORTLAND Coaching Staff Brad Bruhn Jason Reynolds Head Coach Assistant Coach Brad Bruhn enters his fifth sea- Jason Reynolds begins his son as Cortland’s wrestling coach seventh year as a member of the Cort- in 2006-07. He has led the Red land wrestling coaching staff after hav- Dragons to top-25 NCAA Division ing wrestled for the Red Dragons in the III finishes in each of his first four heavyweight division from 1994-99. A 1999 graduate of seasons. Last season, the Red Drag- Cortland with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Educa- ons placed sixth nationally, their tion, Reynolds registered a 28-9 career record with seven highest finish since the 1995-96 season. The Red Drag- pins, including a 9-2 record as a freshman and a 15-5 ons also featured two All-Americans, including Cortland’s mark in his second season.