The NYU wrestling team competed at the New York State Collegiate Championships on Nov. 23 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Featuring schools from both NCAA Division I and Division III, the tournament pitted the Violets against some of the top teams in the country, including Cornell and Hofstra University. NYU ranked 12th out of 20 teams, accumulating 37 points with some strong performances from key wrestlers.

Senior co-captains Patrick Sheehan and Brandon Jones each finished in the A Division bracket for their respective weight classes — Sheehan placed fourth in the 184-pound bracket with 15.5 points, while Jones placed seventh in the 141-pound bracket.

“The team wrestled tough this weekend, although we fell short of a few goals,” Sheehan said. “We grinded through the long week and it’s something we can be proud of. We need to review the tape and improve in areas where we didn’t get the job done.”

Other wrestlers in the A Division bracket included freshmen Steven Nogradi and Raymond Jazikoff, sophomores John Messinger and Wayne Yuan and senior co-captian DJ Albonico. Each collected one victory.

The Violets also had wrestlers compete in the B Division bracket, including freshmen Justin Martinez and Austin Day and sophomore Nick Matthews. Day gave a strong performance, finishing fourth place in the 133-pound bracket. Martinez earned one victory, while Matthews collected two.

Coming into the tournament, NYU was undefeated, winning its first four dual meets on Nov. 15.  Senior co-captain Matthew DiGiovanni said the team will look to learn from its experience at the championships, specifically from the DI schools.

“We faced a lot of DI opponents, and though we might not have come out on top we held our own,” DiGiovanni said.  “Through the tournament we lost a couple important matchups that we would have liked to win, but I believe we learned a lot from those matches and I have faith in my teammates that they will win the next ones. Coming from the tournament I see a few areas that need to be worked on, but that is ordinary this early in the year.”

The Violets’ next matches will take place in the Coles Sports Center on Violent Nation Giveaway Day, Dec. 6, starting at 9 a.m.

A version of this article appeared in the Tuesday, Nov. 25 print edition. Email Jonathan at [email protected].