The 2016-2017 Oswego State wrestling team is sending three players to the NCAA Div. III Wrestling Championship on March 10 and 11 after they qualified last weekend at the Mideast Regional Tournament.
Oswego State finished fourth out of 19 teams, with a total of 98.5 team points at the regional and finished their team schedule on a high note. The three individuals who qualified for the NCAA Championship, who will join 177 other wrestlers, are freshman Jordan Bushey, who wrestles in the 184-pound weight class, freshman Evan Corso, who competes in the 133-pound weight class, and transfer-sophomore Rocco Russo, who wrestles in the 157-pound weight class.
Bushey and Russo won their respective weight classes at the regionals, while Corso finished in second place, but still earned an automatic bid.
Head coach Mike Howard said he was very pleased with the overall performance of his team at the regional tournament, but is even more excited to be sending three of his guys to the NCAAs.
“We are really excited about our finish,” Howard said. “Guys really wrestled well at the regional tournament. Obviously, getting three guys into the NCAA Championship is huge for our program and it’s great for these three guys.”
The Lakers are a very young team and had five freshmen and five sophomores compete at the regional tournament. A few wrestlers just missed out on qualifying for the NCAAs, but Howard said he is looking forward to the coming years at Oswego State.
“We had a couple of other sophomores that were knocking on the door this past weekend,” Howard said. “We’re really excited about where we are headed and what we were able to accomplish this year, and the future is bright here at Oswego.”
Bushey, in his first year as a Laker, has a record of 35-0 and is ranked No. 4 nationally in his weight class in the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association poll. He is very excited for this weekend and acknowledges he has an amazing opportunity in front of him and said he feels very prepared.
“I’m pretty excited and I have been working pretty hard and just getting ready for the national championship this weekend,” Bushey said. “I can’t wait for it to get going,”
Bushey has been competing from a young age and said he is extremely blessed to have the opportunity to compete for a national title this weekend.
“It means a lot,” Bushey said. “I definitely didn’t see this coming a year ago. It’s just pretty exciting to be here in this situation right now.”
Russo had to win just one match in the regional to qualify for the NCAA Championship and he won 8-2. Russo currently has a record of 11-2 this year and is also very excited at the opportunity that is ahead of him this weekend.
“I just went out at the regionals and wrestled and didn’t really care about any names or who I was versing,” Russo said.
Heading into the next weekend’s NCAA Championship, Russo hoped that he can just give Oswego State some national recognition.
“I just want to make some noise, possibly be an All-American,” Russo said. “I don’t know any of these guys and they don’t know who I am and I like that I have always liked being the underdog in these situations.”
Evan Corso, whose regular season record, was 24-14 said he is just excited to finally get a chance at a national title and does not want to hold anything back this weekend.
“My expectations for this weekend is to just not hold anything back,” Corso said. “I have trained for this tournament for the last five months and I am excited to go out there and wrestle for a national title.
The Oswego State wrestling team will be traveling to Michigan as Corso, Bushey and Russo look to put the Lakers back on the national map and bring a national title home.
