NORWICH, Vt. – The Norwich University wrestling team closed out their final home meet of the 2015-16 season with a pair of wins at home over Daniel Webster (DWC) and American International College (AIC) on senior day.
Five Norwich seniors; Cole Boone (Newport, N.H.), James Duncan (Brewster, N.Y.), Bryan Giblin (Georgetown, Mass.), Taylor Jacobs (Killingworth, Conn.) and Wayne McGuire (Tolland, Conn.) were all recognized prior to today's matches.
The Cadets opened the day with a 41-12 win over Daniel Webster, who is just in its second year of the program. The Eagles forfeited the first five matches, giving Norwich the 30-0 advantage. Jacobs represented the Maroon and Gold in the 165 class and took on Daniel Webster's Dylan McKinney-LaFountain, who picked up the 7-2 decision as Jacobs managed to pick up the two points on a pair of escapes.
Sophomore Zach Gibson (Lithopolis, Ohio) took on DWC's Devin Visconti in the 174 match. Gibson tangled with Visconti for the full seven minutes as both grapplers tied at 3-3 after three periods however Visconti would pick up the riding time for the extra point in the 4-3 decision, giving DWC three additional team points.
Junior David Rogers (Marlborough, Mass.) gave Norwich the five team points after defeating DWC's Travis Guthrie with a 16-1 technical fall victory in the 184 pound match. Norwich would pick up six additional points on DWC's forfeit in the 197 class before giving up six team points to the Eagles when Alex Kane pinned sophomore Frank Girolamo (Stoughton, Mass.) in the heavyweight match.
AIC picked up its first win on the day with a 36-6 victory over Daniel Webster on three forfeits, a pin, and two decisions. Daniel Webster picked up the six points off of AIC's forfeit in the 174 class.
The Cadets closed out the day with a tough matchup against AIC. Norwich would pick up three forfeits from AIC in the match for 12 points, but the Cadets just pile on the points as freshman Jacob Forsman (Voorhees, N.J.) and sophomore Chase Jeffreys (Topsfield, Mass.) pinned their opponents in the 125 and 133 class, respectively, for the 12 additional points.
AIC would get on the board with three points on a double overtime victory in the 141 weight class as sophomore Scott Coleman took on Norwich's Zach Morris (South Glen Falls, N.Y.) and picked up the tying point, 8-8, from the riding time to force it into overtime. Neither grapplers could generate points in the first overtime but Coleman managed to pick up the escape point in the second overtime as Morris attempted the same maneuver in the final 30 seconds but Coleman held on to prevent the tying point and picked up the 9-8 victory.
AIC added six more team points on a pin in the 165 match before Norwich's Gibson pinned AIC's Caleb Thompson in the 184 class to give Norwich the six team points with the Cadets now leading 36-9 with two matches remaining on the bracket.
AIC won the final two matches on a 13-12 decision in the 197 match and a pin in the 285 match for the final nine points, however the match was far out of reach as Norwich picked up the win, 36-18, and swept both teams on the day.
Norwich will return to action on Sunday, Feb. 14 for a quad-match against Oswego State, Lycoming College and the host, Wesleyan University. The first dual match is set for 12 p.m. against Wesleyan.
