The Empire State return a national champion and three All- Americans. Sophomore Yianni Diakomihalis (34-1) won his first NCAA crown for the Big Red of Cornell as a true freshman and is currently top-ranked in the balanced 141-pound class. Second-ranked red-shirt junior Nick Piccininni (25-5) of Oklahoma State could face nemesis and reigning NCAA titlist Spencer Lee (Iowa) in a 2019 NCAA title bout in Pittsburgh, PA. The Nittany Lions moved two-time NCAA champion Bo Nickal to 197 pounds and dropped ShakurRasheed (24-5) to 184 pounds. Maryland's Youssif Hemida (30-8) is a potential NCAA semi-finalist in the rugged 285-pound class.

     Buffalo senior Bryan Lantry (17-7) was one match short of AA honors last season and is now at 141, in the Bulls season opening dual, he defeated Wisconsin's Tristan Moran, 7-3, the Badgers won the dual, 25-12. EIWA standouts Frank Garcia (40-28 career) of Binghamton and finalist Mike D'Angelo of Princeton had a solid junior campaign, he finished the season with a 23-10 mark at 157 pounds. Both were NCAA qualifiers and hope to reach the podium at the 2019 Championships. 

     Rounding out the top New York natives are Cornell's Vito Arujau who had a unbelievable 216-1 career mark in high school. The four-time state champion should make an impact on the NCAA scene at 133 pounds, his teammate Ben Honis (46-29 career) will move into the 197 pound class and help bolster the Big Red upper weights. Lou DePrez (24-4) of Binghamton is highly-touted and could grab an NCAA medal in the 184-pound bracket this March. 

Mat Notes:

     Binghamton will host the annual Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open this Sunday, November 11th at the Events Center. The memorial event is held in honor of former Navy Seal Jonathan Kaloust, a native of Massapequa,  and a standout Bearcat wrestler. Kaloust was killed in the line of duty in a training exercise in Kentucky.The prestigious event will attract 18 teams and over 300 wrestlers. Some of the top teams competing are: Penn State, Cornell, Columbia, Army, Harvard, Brown, Princeton and Binghamton.  Also on Sunday, Hofstra will compete in the Journeymen Northeast Classic in Albany.

     On November 16th, Binghamton will host a dual against Cornell. On that same date, on Long Island, the Pride of Hofstra will face Big Ten rival Rutgers in a dual slated to begin at 6:00 PM at the David Mack Sports Complex.  Suny Binghamton will host the EIWA Championships on March 8th-9th, 2019, at the Events Center...