ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The SUNYAC announced its annual end of season wrestling awards on Thursday afternoon and named the Oneonta wrestling coaches the Coaching Staff of the Year for the 2024-25 season. The Oneonta wrestling team is led by head coach Duane Ritter and he is assisted by Tyler Brazinski '21, Nate Leonard, and Anthony Romero '23, with head athletic trainer Shelby Croft as the team's primary trainer.

"What an amazing way to cap off such a special, and historic, year for our wrestling program," said Oneonta Athletics Director Ryan Hooper. "The time and energy that Coach Ritter and his staff have put into building this team has truly been remarkable."

As a team this season, the Red Dragons took home the program's first SUNYAC Championship team title in January and the first New York State Collegiate Championship team title in front of their home crowd in Dewar Arena back in November. The team tied the program's record for dual wins in a single season (16), ended the regular season nationally ranked eighth in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) polls, and finished tied for 21st at the NCAA Division III Championships with two wrestlers.

Oneonta wrestling's two National qualifiers were Jack Ryan (Trumbull, CT/) at 184 pounds and Carson LiCastri (Easton, CT/Joel Barlow High School) at 197 pounds. Ryan became a two-time All-American with a third-place finish and the sixth Red Dragon in program history to earn multiple All-Americans. The Red Dragons had Ryan (184), LiCastri (197), junior Avery Leonard (Milford, N.Y./Milford Central) (149), and sophomore Mason Rappold (/) (165) earn All-SUNYAC honors, while seniors Danny Poggi (West Islip, NY/West Islip) (133), Kenneth Sauer (Franklin, MA./Franklin) (174), and junior Kennith Jackson (New Orleans, LA/) (285) finished third at the conference championships.

All 10 wrestlers that competed at the Region 2 qualifier entered the tournament regionally ranked, while Ryan was nationally ranked first at 184 pounds and Leonard was fourth at 149. Leonard finished the year leading the NCAA in tech falls with 23 and LiCastri was second in the NCAA in falls with 22.

The Red Dragons had LiCastri, Leonard, Ryan, and freshmen Jackson Maby (Susquehanna, PA/Susquehanna Community) and Ryley Monica (Adams, NY/South Jefferson Central) earn NWCA Scholar All-American honors. The five wrestlers had to maintain a 3.2 GPA and either accomplish a top-8 finish in the regional tournament or compete in at least 15 matches and have a win percentage greater than 66%.

Sophomore Gabriel Camillieri (Croton-On-Hudson, NY/Croton-Harmon-High School) was named the SUNYAC Men's Wrestling Elite 20 winner at the conference championships. The award recognizes the essence of the student-athlete by honoring an individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the conference championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers.

"SUNY Oneonta is so very grateful to have Duane leading this program of talented young men," Hooper concluded. "We can't wait to see what else is in store for this program. Congratulations Duane, Anthony, Tyler and Nate, this honor has been long overdue."

Along with their first-place team finishes at the conference and state championships, Oneonta finished sixth at the NCAA Region 2 Qualifer, second at the Rhode Island Invitational, and fifth at the RIT Invitational. The Red Dragons ended the season 16-5 in dual matches.