The Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference (ECWC) released its’ first-ever All-Academic team on Wednesday and recognized three Oswego State wrestlers. Seniors Mike Howard and Eric Leusch and junior Brandon Heffernan were named to the 32-member squad by virtue of carrying a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.3.

Mike Howard, a senior adolescent education major from Oswego, N.Y., ended the year with a record of 9-8 wrestling at 149 pounds.  His best tournament result of the season came at the RIT Invitational where he placed sixth.  A captain in 2009-10, Howard has been named an NCAA Division III Wrestling Scholar All-American in 2009 and a 2009 SUNYAC All-Academic and Commissioner’s List Recipient.

Eric Leusch (Sr., Rochester, N.Y.) finished in third place individually at 285 pounds to lead the Oswego State wrestling team to a fifth place finish after tallying 76 points at the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference Championships hosted by RIT on Saturday. Cortland took first place with 141.5 points followed by Brockport with 126 points. The fifth place finish by the Lakers is the highest finish by the squad since 2007 when they earned fifth.

Leusch began his day with a pin against Sam O’Donnell of Morrisville just before the end of the first period at 2:58, but dropped his next match 10-4 versus Brockport’s Patrick Krenz to move into the consolation bracket.  Leusch won his next three matches, pinning Zane Bachert of Messiah in 2:09, defeating Oneonta’s James Lamonica 8-4, then won by virtue of medical forfeit to move into the true second place match.  Leusch suffered a loss to Joseph Goetz to earn third place. 

Senior Eric Leusch (Rochester, N.Y.) recorded a pin in 4:27 at 285 pounds to cap off the Oswego State wrestling team’s 22-13 victory over visiting Morrisville on Tuesday night at Max Ziel Gymnasium. The dual meet was also the final home meet for the two seniors on the squad, Leusch and Mike Howard (Oswego, N.Y.), who both posted victories for the Lakers. Oswego State improved to 4-9 in dual meets, while the Mustangs fell to 3-10.

Both squads started the match trading major decisions at 125 and 133 pounds, as Morrisville’s Justin Delmothe defeated Paul Slaver (So., Fulton, N.Y.) 11-2 and Oswego’s Omar Santiago (Fr., Huntington, N.Y.) defeated Akinniran Akinfemi 10-1.  At 141 pounds, the Mustangs’ Brian Latham recorded a takedown in the final ten seconds to defeat Chris Payne (So., Farmington, N.Y.) 8-7 plus the riding point for a 9-7 victory.