Team Scores

Brackets

BROCKPORT, NY—Bryce Busler (Mechanicsburg/Cumberland Valley) and Josh Veltre (Rochester, NY/Greece Olympia) each captured first place in their respective weight classes to lead the Bloomsburg University wrestling team to a second place finish on Saturday at the Brockport/Oklahoma Invitational in Brockport, NY. It was the head coaching debut for new Huskies coach Jason Mester. Busler was also named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler for his efforts.
 
As a team the Huskies finished with 133 points, while Oklahoma finished with 168.
 
Busler, wrestling at 149 pounds, opened the day with back-to-back wins by technical fall. The first came again Connor Melde of Army, 16-0; followed by a 16-1 victory over John Crast of Brockport. In the semi-finals Busler beat Dryden Dennis of Oklahoma by major decision, 9-0. In the championship bout Busler faced off with Kendric Maple of Oklahoma, the defending national champion and current number one wrestler at his weight. Busler fell behind 3-1 in the second period, then benefitted from two stalling points on Maple to force the overtime. In the OT Busler, ranked 17^th in one poll, wasted little time in being the aggressor and scored a takedown with about 30 seconds left to score the upset victory. For his efforts he was voted the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.
 
While Busler was winning his weight class, Veltre followed that up with a title at 165 pounds. Ranked ninth nationally at his weight, Veltre opened the day with a win by major decision followed by a 5-1 win over Rrok Ndokaj (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) of Buffalo. In the semi-finals he beat Coleman Gracey of Army 6-2, then took home the title with a 4-1 win over Clark Glass of Oklahoma.
 
"We wrestled well today," said Huskies coach Jason Mester. "All the guys looked good and Bryce (Busler) had an unbelievable tournament. I couldn't be more proud of the effort put in."
 
Along with two wins, the Huskies also had two runner-up finishes from Nick Wilcox (Greene, NY/Greene Central) at 133 pounds and Richard Perry (Meriden, CT/Middletown) at 197. Wilcox, ranked 13th lost in the finals to fourth-ranked Cody Brewer of Oklahoma, 15-6. Perry, ranked 12th, fell in the finals to fifth-ranked Travis Rutt of Oklahoma, 8-2. In the semi-finals Perry had knocked off number 11 ranked Dan Mitchell of American, 3-2.
 
Finishing third at 157 pounds was Kevin Hartnett (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell); Mike Dessino (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) at 174 pounds; and Kurtis Becker (Sweedsboro, NJ/Kingsway) at 149 pounds.
 
Bloomsburg wrestles at Lehigh University on Friday at 7 p.m.