Three Bears Garner All-Region Honors at NCAA Region III Wrestling Championships

By Jim Fenton

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Three Bridgewater State University wrestlers earned all-region honors at the NCAA Division III Region One Championships which concluded Sunday.

Freshmen Avery Carl (Bridport, Vt.) finished fourth at 157 pounds and Ethan Buonanducci (Enfield, Conn.) was fifth at 133 pounds while senior Malcolm Chrispin (Hyde Park, Mass.) placed seventh at 141 pounds.

Carl, Buonanducci and Chrispin were 4-2 in the two-day competition at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

The top three finishers in each weight class qualified for the upcoming NCAA Championships while the top eight received all-region recognition.

BSU finished the season by placing 11th out of 19 teams at the Region One competition with 49 1/2 points.

Springfield College won the championship with 170 1/2 points followed in the top five by Williams College, Coast Guard Academy, Vermont State Castleton and Johnson & Wales.

Carl was one win away from making it to the nationals and finished 4-2 with two pins in the competition, which began on Saturday. He wrapped up his rookie season with 24 wins and a team-leading 17 pins.

Carl won his first two matches on Sunday to wind up in the final four of his weight class.

He was a 9-5 decision winner over Will Hunt of Rhode Island College and won by fall at 5:28 over #4 seed Jack Forte of Roger Williams.

In the third-place match, Carl lost by fall at 52 seconds to eighth-seeded Ryan Kozdra of Springfield.

Buonanducci, the #5 seed at 133, started Sunday with a, 11-4 decision victory over Stone Farnsworth of Vermont State then lost a 4-2 decision to #6 seed Matthew Carroza of Trinity.

He earned the fifth spot with an 11-3 major decision over Carver Moyer of Norwich.

Chrispin lost by sudden victory, 4-1, to #4 seed Nicolas Baiella of Vermont State, then won by medical forfeit over Jared Hood of Emmanuel for seventh place.

In three seasons with the Bears, Chrispin notched 58 career wins.

Notes: Carl's 17 pins are tied for the fourth highest single-season total in program history and second among BSU rookies. Head Coach and BSU Hall of Famer Frank Cammisa holds the Bears' rookie record with 21 pins in 2006-2007.