SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts – The American International College wrestling team won on senior night, taking down Norwich University 27-19 in the team's lone home dual of the season.
The night started with a pair of exhibition bouts, including Luke Mangiafico pinning Mike Milanoski to open the evening.
The first official bout was at 184, and pitted Markys Lissaint against Simon Taraska. Lissaint battled early before taking control in the second period with the first takedown of the match, and another takedown in the third secured the 5-1 decision.
Justin Osler battled Shane Daly at 197, and Osler made quick work of his opposition, scoring the pin at 2:28 to push AIC ahead 9-0.
Fortunes turned for the Cadets in the next two bouts, however, as Mason Sprinkel pulled off an 11-2 major decision at heavyweight and Jabari Pinkney eked out a 5-3 decision at 125. Though Aaron Morocho countered with a 5-3 decision of his own over Dylan King thanks to two first-period takedowns, AIC trailed through six bouts by a 13-12 count after forfeiting the 141-pound bout.
Tommy Nichols faced Ethan Tanner at 149, and Nichols came ready to give AIC the lead. He threw Tanner to the mat quickly and scored a nearfall before finally delivering a pin to put the Yellow Jackets up by 5. Joel Morth followed, and quickly asserted dominance against Cameron Wooldridge, taking his opponent down six times for a 12-4 major decision.
Norwich's Joshua Ducharme earned a second-period pin at 165, cutting AIC's lead to 22-19 heading into the last bout, meaning it wass down to Jack MacKiernan and James Spellman to decide the fates of their teams. Against this backdrop, MacKiernan dominated, taking down Spellman right away and nearly pinning him repeatedly in the first period. He collected three separate four-point nearfalls, the last coming at the buzzer of the period, and his takedown 19 seconds into the second secured the 16-0 technical fall and the match for the Yellow Jackets.
Three more exhibitions were held to ensure that all the available AIC wrestlers got to compete at home; among those, Dylan Kasperzyk scored an impressive pin of Mike Milanoski at 2:45.
The team will now have three weeks to prep for the 2023 Super Regional at East Stroudsburg University which begins on February 25.
