Bordas shines at Binghamton tournament

By Michael Mack
The wrestling team managed to use last Sunday’s Binghamton Open as a turning point to get their season on the right track.

Coming off of a tough loss to nationally ranked Lehigh, the tournament was very important to the team, and some outstanding individual performances helped the Broncs find success.
Senior heavyweight Ed Bordas won five matches en route to winning his first tournament of the season. Bordas defeated Tyler Moore from Brown 2-0 in the finals. He also defeated wrestlers from Cornell, George Mason, Delaware Valley, and another wrestler from Brown, collecting one pin along the way.
Another brilliant performance for Rider was that of 174-pound freshman Jim Resnick. Resnick finished runner-up in his tournament after winning his first four matches.
“I am pretty satisfied with my performance at the tournament,” Resnick said. “We have all been working really hard and to get out there and do as well as I did felt great.”
Even with this recent success, Resnick managed to stay humble and keep his mind on his future goals.
“I still believe I have a long way to go before I am where I want to be,” he said.
Resnick defeated wrestlers from Lehigh, Princeton, George Mason and even Rider teammate Mike Ward, before losing to Mack Lewnes from Cornell in the finals.
Outside of the runner-up finish, Resnick made another great accomplishment in the tournament. The wrestler from George Mason that he defeated was Bagna Tovuujav, a former nationally ranked top-20 competitor.
“To beat a top-20 kid in my first college tournament felt really good,” Resnick said. “It shows me that I can compete with nationally-ranked guys and that is a huge confidence boost.”
Also for Rider, junior Rob Morrison placed third in the 165-pound tournament. Morrison, a red-shirt from last year, defeated wrestlers from Harvard, Boston and Cornell, before losing to the eventual champion, Gabriel Burak from Penn, in the semifinals. Morrison defeated a wrestler from Columbia in the consolations to take third place.
Other Broncs with impressive performances include Mike Ward, a senior, who finished fourth in the 174-pound tournament, and junior Matt Bradley, who placed fourth in the 141-pound tournament. Freshman James Brundage, 165-pounds, and freshman Ramon Santiago, 157-pounds,  also wrestled well, giving the Broncs high hopes for the future of their team.
All together, the team looked very impressive at the tournament.
“I thought our team wrestled really well,” Resnick said. “We all wrestled as hard as we could from whistle to whistle. No one seemed to give up at any point.”
The Broncs will try to keep their momentum rolling on Friday, Nov. 20, as they travel to Bellefonte, Pa., to take on Lock Haven.