The Lions had finished third four times since initially entering the Championships in 1980, but never higher. And although the 2007 team is ranked 24th nationally, there was cause for pessimism on the long ride up to Buffalo, as Columbia was missing at least four starters due to injury.
But from the first round, it became apparent that the Lions would be a contender, with Army, Cornell, Buffalo, Ithaca and Nassau Community College, a national junior college power.
"We've been wrestling very well, and I'm glad to see it continue," said Brendan Buckley, the Andrew F. Barth Head Coach of Wrestling. "I'm happy that we finally won the States."
Although minus a 133-pounder after 18th-ranked Matt DeLorenzo was injured during the week, Columbia went into Saturday's wrestling at Alumni Arena with high hopes after advancing eight men to the semifinals. The hopes were justified after all eight won to advance to the finals.
Four of the eight featured Columbia-Army pairings, heightening the tension for a head-to-head battle between the tourney's two leaders. It increased markedly when Cadets won the first two weight classes, at 125 and 133 pounds.
Second-seeded Derek Francavilla carried Columbia's colors when he stepped onto the mat at 141 pounds against yet another Army matman, highly-rated first-year Matthew Kyler. Francavilla had won his first bout by technical fall, but barely pulled out an overtime win in the second.
The bout was close for two periods, Kyler leading by 4-2, but he increased it to 7-2 in the third, and then hit a near fall with two seconds left for a 12-2 final.
First-year Matt Dunn, wrestling at 149, took a 3-1 lead into the third period of his bout with Buffalo's Jason Hilliard. Hilliard scored five points in the final two-minute period while limiting Dunn to one, and won by 6-4.
Seeking to stem the Cadet tide, sophomore Derek Sickles took the mat at 157 to face Army's Christian Snook. Sickles was wrestling in place of injured Devin Mesanko, but had compiled an 11-6 record this season and was awarded the first seed at 157; Snook was seeded third.
Sickles' unorthodox style can catch opponents unawares, as it did when he hit a takedown and a reversal in the first period, which he led, 4-3. The Lion scored another two-point reversal in period two, followed by a three-point near fall off of a scramble. He netted another takedown and near fall in the third period, for a 14-4 major decision. Columbia had won its first individual title.
Third-seeded Ricky Turk met Cornell's Mike Mackie, the fourth seed at 165, and the Lion wasted little time against Mackie, who had upset top-seeded Mike Ragusa of Buffalo. He scored two takedowns and a near fall in the first period to lead 6-2, and led 8-4 after two periods.
Turk took the top position for the final period, and proceeded to ride Mackie the entire period, capturing an 8-4 victory. Columbia picked up some more points at the weight class when senior Dustin Tillman progressed through the consolations to finish fourth.
The crowd cheered as Buffalo's Nate Rock trotted out for the 174-pound championship. Columbia All-American Matt Palmer, however, wasn't listening. Wrestling just his second collegiate competition of the season, Palmer took a 2-0 lad on a first-period takedown and never scored again. He didn't have to, though, as he held Rock scoreless in a taut battle belying the final score, 3-0 (counting riding time).
Three individual titles down, three to go.
Senior Justin Barent faced a powerful foe at 184 in Army's Scott Ferguson, the top seed. Ferguson and the third-seeded Barent wrestled cautiously in the first period, without scoring until Barent took him down with just two seconds to go. Ferguson drew within 2-1 on a second-period escape, only to see Justin's third-period escape raise the margin to 3-1.
With both benches screaming encouragement, Ferguson tried again late in the third period, but the 14th-ranked Barent, who had won his semifinal bout by one point on an escape with five seconds to go, wouldn't yield. His 3-1 victory was his second tournament title of the season, following the Keystone Classic.
Senior 197-pounder Kirk Davis had missed most of the season with an injury, but his replacement, junior Nick Sommerfeld, filled in beautifully, winning 10 of 15. Seeded first in the New York states, he had won his first two bouts by a pin and a major decision, but needed the riding time point to defeat Buffalo's Ricky Scott in the semifinals, 3-2.
Sommerfeld faced a strong foe in Army senior Connor Sanders. As Army's final wrestler of the match, his would be the pivotal bout.
Following a scoreless opening period, Sanders took a 1-0 lead into the third. Sommerfeld's escape tied it at 1-1, and his takedown with 1:10 to go put Nick up, 3-1.
Down 3-2, Sanders struggled to escape. He finally did so, tying the bout at 3-3, but there were just five seconds to go, and Sommerfeld won on riding time, 4-3.
Columbia had clinched the team title, but no one was leaving. They wanted to see Arkadiy Levitin, Hunter's huge undefeated heavyweight, whose 21-0 record ranked him second in the nation in Division III.
The top-seeded Levitin had gone through the tournament draw with three wins, two by falls, but Columbia's Kevin Lester had also been successful. The first-year from Nampa, Idaho, won his first two bouts by regular decision, and then stunned Army's second-seeded Michael Sprigg with a 16-6 major decision, setting up the confrontation with Levitin.
Heavyweight bouts generally are characterized by inaction, but not the Lester-Levitin encounter. The first period read more like a lightweight bout: Levitin takedown-Lester escape-Lester takedown-Levitin escape-Lester penalty point (Levitin runs off mat)-Levitin takedown-Lester escape. All in the first period!
Tied at 5-5, Levitin escaped in the second period to assume a 6-5 lead. The Lion tied it at 6-6 on a third-period escape and the two fought on. With 1:50 to go in regulation, Levitin launched another attack, only to see Lester, amazingly quick for a 6-5, 235-pounder, counter it and gain the two-point takedown. Levitin came back again, escaping once more to trail 8-7, but pulled no closer as the bout ended with Lester on top, 8-7. and the crowd roaring.
"Kevin has been improving every day," Brendan Buckley marveled. "We first began to see it when he wrestled UC Davis [in early January]. You see it in practice, you see it in matches."
And so the 27-year drought ended, not quietly, but with the roaring of the crowd and the roar of the Lions. Six consecutive individual titles — for Brendan Buckley and his 24th-ranked Lions, that was yet another first.
Columbia competes in aother milestone Sunday January 28, as vaunted Lehigh comes to Morningside Heights for only the second time ever. It's a 1 p.m. encounter.
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