Wrestling | 6/6/2019 11:34:00 AM

ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT wrestling team enjoyed perhaps the most successful season in program history during the 2018-19 season. The Tigers won a program-record 12 dual meets and were ranked 19th in the final NWCA National poll. In addition, RIT finished 11th overall at the NCAA Championships and three wrestlers earned All-American honors.
 
Dempsey King (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) was the national runner-up at 165 lbs. at the 2019 NCAA Championships, while Kaidon Winters (Athens, PA/Athens Area) placed fifth at 157 lbs. and Connor Calkins (Almond, NY/Alfred-Almond) was eighth at 285 lbs. Head coach Jason Bovenzi was named both the 2018-19 Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference (ECWC) Coach of the Year and National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Division III Mideast Region Coach of the Year.
 
RIT recorded top-three finishes at several tournaments and brought home the win at the Citrus Invite on Dec. 29-30. That Citrus Tournament win was the first tournament victory in school history. Bovenzi led the Tigers to a fourth place finish at the 2019 NCAA Mideast Regional Championship, RIT's best finish in program history. In addition, RIT earned dual wins over nationally recognized schools The College of Brockport, Roger Williams University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
 
RIT's 12 dual-match wins are the most in 91 years of wrestling at the institute. In addition, seven different grapplers recorded at least 20 victories this season.
 
King was RIT's first wrestler to compete for a national title since Mike McInally in 2011, earning runner-up honors at 165 lbs. King earned NCAA All-America honors on his way to finishing the 2018-19 season with a 27-6 mark. He was also runner-up at the 2019 NCAA Mideast Regional. The RIT Male Athlete of the Week on Jan. 2 and ECWC Co-Wrestler of the Week on Jan. 7, King won the individual title at the Citrus Open and is 77-23 in three seasons.
 
Winters opened the season by winning his first 32 matches at 157 lbs. while placing eighth overall among all Division III wrestlers in NCAA's Most Dominant Wrestler standings. Winters, who was ranked as high as second nationally in his weight class, finished fifth at nationals, completing the 2018-19 season with a 35-2 record with 17 pins. He won individual titles at the Ithaca Invitational, RIT Invitational and Citrus Open. In addition, Winters was named the Tony Wallace Award winner as Most Outstanding Wrestler of the 2018 RIT Invitational. Winters is 77-12 in two seasons at RIT, with 39 victories coming by pin.
 
Calkins a heavyweight, finished the season with a 28-10 record with eight wins by technical fall and seven more by pin. He was 40-16 with two appearances in the national tournament in two seasons. Calkins was RIT's first heavyweight to earn All-American honors since Terry Ryan in 1980.
 
Senior Joe Cutugno (Ventnor, NJ/Atlantic City) enjoyed another strong season for RIT in 2018-19 at 184 lbs., finishing 21-5 overall and 10-1 in dual matches, with six wins coming by pin. He represented RIT at the 2018 NCAA Championships and finished 69-48 in his RIT career.

Freshman Chris Horton (Athens, PA/Athens Area) enjoyed a tremendous first season for the Tigers at 133 lbs. He won an individual title at the Citrus Open, finished 13-1 in dual matches and 25-8 overall with five wins by pin. Horton, who was nationally-ranked at 133 lbs. earlier in the season, was a two-time ECWC Rookie of the Week, earning honors on Dec. 9 and Feb. 12.
 
Sophomore Zach Stedeford (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) won an individual title at the Ithaca Invitational at 149 lbs. to kick off the season. He finished fourth in his weight class at the 2019 NCAA Mideast Regional on his way to a 25-7 overall record. Stedeford went 10-1 in dual matches with nine wins by pin or technical fall in 2018-19 and is 38-13 in two seasons at RIT.

Junior John Donohue (Smithtown, NY/Hauppauge) finished with 24 wins overall and a 9-3 mark in dual matches with 10 pins and a pair of victories by technical fall at 184 and 197 lbs. Sophomore Joe Lupisella (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) won an individual title at 174 lbs. at the season-opening Ithaca Invitational and was RIT's Male Athlete of the Week on Nov. 5. He finished is 13-6 in 2018-19.

Chris Dean (Long Branch, NJ/Long Branch) enjoyed a solid freshman season for the Tigers, finishing with 16 victories at 125 lbs. Junior Isaiah Ocasio (Vineland, NJ/Vineland) added 15 victories, including two via pin at 141 lbs. Shane Murphy (Mt. Olive, NJ/Mt. Olive) went 14-9 at 141 lbs., while Alex Prunoske (Safety Harbor, FL/Clearwater Catholic) added 11 wins at 125 and 133 lbs., Colby Hall (Deposit, NY/Deposit) recorded 11 victories at 149 lbs, while RIT also received solid contributions from Joe Brillo (Skaneateles, NY/Skaneateles).
 
Sam Weinger (Blooming Grove, NY/Washingtonville) was off to a good start with 12 wins during the first semester at 197 lbs. before suffering a season-ending injury. Joey Monteleone (East Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) added seven wins at the same weight class, while Morgan Seller (Lyons Falls, NY/South Lewis) and Vincent Buscemi (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia) were also a strong contributors at 165 lbs. Heavyweights Owen Albanese (Canastota, NY/Canastota) and Chris St. Denny (Bridgeport, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) gave RIT excellent depth all season.
 
RIT also excelled in the classroom, as Cutugno, Horton, King and Stedeford were named 2019 Scholar All-Americans by the National Wrestling Coaches Association and a school-record 13 grapplers earned 2018-19 Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference All-Academic Team honors. The Tigers had a cumulative grade-point average of 3.545 during 2018-19 and were honored by the NWCA with a Scholar Team accolade. RIT was 16th nationally among Division III schools and second among Empire College Wrestling Conference programs.
 
RIT loses Vincent Buscemi (Rochester, NY/Greece Arcadia), Calkins, Cutugno and Wyatt Morris (Eaton, NY/Morrisville-Eaton) to graduation, but will look to continue its ascent as a national power in 2019-20.