It is that time of year where Oswego State golf and wrestling head coach Mike Howard transitions from the course to the mat as he guides the Lakers for his 27th season under the helm.

Oswego State wrestling is coming off a big season for its program, where six wrestlers last spring competed in regionals and three of them qualified for the NCAA Tournament: Jordan Bushey, Rocco Russo and Evan Corso.

Bushey led the Lakers all of 2016-2017 as a freshman, going 39-2 in his matches. He had a fourth-place finish in the NCAA Championships and was named All-American and NYSWCA Freshman of the Year in the 184-pound weight class.

“The NCAA Tournament was definitely a learning experience,” Bushey said. “I’m just trying to take everything from my losses there and work on it this year and have a better outcome next year.”

Bushey put his name on the map with his success last season. This year, with more of a target on his back, other teams’ wrestlers will look to adjust to what they have witnessed or heard about with his skill set.

The Lakers kicked off their campaign in Providence, Rhode Island, last weekend in the Ithaca College Invitational. Sophomore Bushey picked up where he left off in his historic season going 5-0 and winning the 184-pound weight class.

“[Bushey]’s a talented kid,” Howard said. “I said that last year, he’s super-talented. He wrestled really well over the weekend. Team’s tried to figure him out, but [Bushey] adapted to what they were doing.”

The Lakers as a team finished in seventh place at the Ithaca Invitational out of 16 teams.

“I thought going in we could potentially be top-five in the team standings,” Howard said.

Junior Troy Seymour, who finished 26-10 last season, was scratched before the Ithaca Invitational, as he became ill before the meet, Howard said.

The loss of Seymour took away points Howard believed the team would have claimed, but he still had the same expectations going into the event.

“Well, I told the guys it also opens the door for some others to step up and fill the gap,” Howard said. “We’re going to have things happen throughout the season and got to have guys ready to pull up the slack.”

Bushey’s efforts in the opening invitational for the 2017-2018 season earned him ECWC Co-Wrestler of the Week and Oswego State Athlete of the Week.

“It feels pretty good to get the season started,” Bushey said of his recognition.

Other notable performances for the Lakers in the Ithaca Invitational include junior Jeff Lombardi, who worked over the offseason on bumping up to the 184-pound weight class.

“I feel pretty good. I feel I got off to a really good start,” Lombardi said. “In the offseason, I was really pushing to gain weight. I kind of found my right weight class.”

Lombardi, Bushey and Seymour will be ready to lead this year’s team that feature a whopping freshman class of 10 wrestlers.

“I kind of help guide them by welcoming them,” Lombardi said. “Telling them how the program is, what we expect and it’s kind of like a brotherhood here.”

Building off a historic season for the program, Howard sees the success continuing with the incoming recruiting class.

“I think we felt with what we accomplished last year, coming into this year, we’re kind of starting to take those drives to be back in the top-20 in the country,” Howard said. “Part of our issue has been depth. We’re starting to develop some of that.”

Despite producing top-notch individual wrestlers, the Lakers as a team have struggled overall in recent years.

“Guys like myself and Alex Hornacek, coming in as a Div. I recruit, and a few other guys competing in nationals’ last year kind of opens the eyes of the rest of the nation to let them know Oswego [State] is coming,” Seymour said.

Next on the schedule for Oswego State, they travel down to Binghamton University for the Johnathon Caloust Bearcat Open on Saturday. The Lakers will have their hands full going up against some of the best in Div. I wrestling.

“Our topline guys are going to be tested, which is what we want early in the season,” Howard said. “We want them to wrestle quality competition and see where they are at and learn from the experience.”

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