On the 100th anniversary of MIT wrestling, the Engineers won the NCWA Division II National Championship edging out runner-up University of South Carolina. MIT qualified six wrestlers for the tournament and were lead by its captains, senior Ryan Madson and junior Sam Shames.

Ryan capped off an illustrious career becoming the first four-time All-American for MIT by finishing 4th at 157 pounds.  He was 4th as a freshman, 2nd as a sophomore and 3rd as a junior.  He is one of only 20 wrestlers to be a four-time NCWA All-American. Ryan is the all-time MIT leader in career wins with 145 and ranks 3rd in the history of the NCWA.  Ryan has a career record of 145 wins, with 77 by pin, and 20 losses.

Sam Shames capped off a perfect season finishing 31-0 and winning the national title at 125.  He won five matches, three by pin, one technical fall and an 11-6 win in the finals.  Sam is a three-time All-American, finishing 3rd as a freshman, 2nd as a sophomore and 1st as a junior.  Sam has a career record of 103 wins and 8 losses.

Senior Bee Vang finished his career as a four-time NCWA national qualifier and this year was two matches away from a medal.  Bee wrestled well. In the last match of his career, Bee was down five points in the 3rd period and fought his way back to lose 8-7 on riding time.  Bee finished the season with a record of 12 wins and 11 losses and a career record of 57 wins and 62 losses. Bee has been a pillar of the MIT wrestling team for the last four years

Junior Tyler Laprade qualified for his first national tournament at 174 pounds and finished with 2 wins and 2 losses.  Tyler finished with a season record of 14 wins and 12 losses.

1st year wrestlers, Lawrence Chan (197) and Max Powers (235), qualified for their 1st national tournament and gained some valuable experience.

Overall Coach Tom Layte, John Bosco and Reggie Snowden were very happy with how the team competed. The 2013 team title was the 2nd for the program, which won the NCWA Division II National title in 2010. Sam was MIT’s second national champion following Grant Kadokura (125) in 2010.

Coach Layte was named NCWA Coach of the Year.  Earlier Coach Layte was selected as Coach of the Year for the NCWA Northeast Conference and elected Chairman of the Northeast Conference.

The MIT wrestling team finished in 2nd place this past weekend at the Northeast Conference Championships. The US Naval Academy Prep School won the team title finishing with 152 points. MIT was second with 103 points followed by the University of Massachusetts Amherst scoring 99 points. 7 wrestler competed for MIT with 6 of them placing in the top 5 and qualifying for the national tournament being held in Allen, Texas on March 14th-16th. The team was lead by captains Ryan Madson and Sam Shames who both won their perspective weight classes.

Senior co-captain, Ryan Madson won all 3 of his matches and captured 1st place at the 157 pound weight class. He won the conference title for the 4th time. He has a current record of 31-3 this season and a career record of 141 wins and 20 losses.

Junior co-captian, Sam Shames won the 125 pound weight class going 2-0 on the day and also being named the light weight outstanding wrestler of the tournament. Sam is currently undefeated and has a current record of 26-0 and a career record of 98-8.

Senior Bee Vang finished in 2nd place at 133 pounds with 2 wins and 1 loss. This is the 4th year Bee has qualified for the national tournament. He has a current record of 11-10 and a career record of 56-61.

Freshman, Lawrence Chan finished in 2nd place at 197 pounds with 2 wins and had to forfeit the finals match due to a minor injury. Lawrence has been injured most of the season and has a current record of 5-4.

Junior, Max Powers finished in 4th place at 235 pounds winning 2 matches and losing 2 matches. This is Max’s first season and he has a current record of 9-6.

Freshman, Serafin Venegas lost 2 tough matches at the 125 pound weight class and finished in 7th place.

The story of the day was junior, Tyler Laprade. Tyler finished in 5th place at the 174 pound weight class. He had 4 wins on the day including 3 pins. He was losing 1 of his matches 10-2 when he scored the fall. Tyler has made the most improvement of any wrestler on the team. He had only 2 wins as a freshman, 4 wins as a sophomore and this season has a record of 12 wins and 10 losses. He also qualified for the national tournament for the first time.

Coach Layte was voted Coach of the Year for the Northeast Conference.

The team will be heading to Allen, Texas to compete at the NCWA national tournament on March 14th through the 16th. If your in the area please stop by and cheer on the team. The tournament will be held at The Allen Events Center. You can also go on the NCWA.net website and follow the team. The NCWA will be streaming the event live.

The MIT wrestling team finished in 4th place as a team at the New England Conference tournament. MIT had 3 champions and 1 second. Junior co-captain, Sam Shames went 2-0 on the day with 2 pins to win the 125 pound weight class. He is currently 24-0 on the season. Senior, Bee Vang went 3-0 on the day with 2 major decisions to win the 133 pound weight class. Bee is currently 9-9 on the season. He has competed mostly up at 141 and 149 pounds. Senior co-captain, Ryan Madson continued his dominance going 3-0 on the day winning all 3 matches by pin. Ryan is currently 28-3. Junior, Tyler Laprade finished 2nd at the 174 pound weight class. This is the first tournament Tyler has made it to the finals. He looked very impressive in all of his matches and is currently 8-8.

The team will be competing at the North East Conference national qualifying tournament on Saturday, March 2nd at the University of New Hampshire. Wrestling will start at 10am.

On January 26th, MIT hosted the MIT Classic with UNH, UConn, RPI, and Amherst, the first home competition in four years. MIT finished 1st tied with UNH each scoring 86 points. Ryan Madson won 4 matches, 1 major and 3 by pin. Bee Vang, Sam Shames and Max Powers each won 3 matches and all of their wins were by pin. All 4 went undefeated on the day and won their weight classes. Tyler Laprade finished the day 2-1 and finished in 2nd place. He won both matches by pin. Heavyweight, Laith Maswadeh made his season debut. He finished in 3rd place. The MIT wrestling team travels to Newport RI on February 2nd to compete in a quad meet with Navy Prep, STCC and UNH. Wrestling starts at 10am.

On January 18th and 19th, the MIT wrestling team participated in the NCWA National Duals in Dalton, Georgia. Despite injuries to Jaes Jones and Jake Laux, the 149 and 197 pound starters, the team finished 2-3 at the tournament and finished in 11th place out of 21 teams. Bee Vang, Serafin Venegas, Tyler Laprade, Lawrence Chan, and Max Powers all got their first wins of the seasons down in Georgia. Junior co-captain Sam shames went 5-0 on the trip with 3 pins and 2 major decisions to improve to 16-0 on the season. Senior co-captain, Ryan Madson also went 5-0 with 2 pins, 2 majors and 1 decision to improve to 18-3 on the season. Overall, the team wrestled well and got to see how they compared to the best teams in country. MIT will host the MIT Classic on January 26th.

Tom Layte was recently interviewed by Take Down Radio (TDR) on Intermat for the upcoming NCWA National Duals in Dalton, GA.

On November 3rd, Junior Co-captain and 2-time NCWA All-American, Sam Shames will be wrestling in the NWCA All-Star Classic.  Sam will be competing along side many of the top division 1 wrestlers in the country, including the feature match of the night, NCAA champion David Taylor of Penn State versus 3-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake of Cornell University. Sam will be the lone representative of the NCWA and will wrestle 133 against Travis Barroquillo of Indiana Tech.  The competition starts at 7:30pm in Bender Arena on the campus of American University in Washington, D.C.

For more information on the event, visit the NWCA website and follow the NWCA Facebook and Twitter pages.

Link can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDkcvm2Vu7o&feature=youtu.be

Co-captains Sam Shames and Ryan Madson won their respective weight classes this past weekend at the Doug Parker Invitational hosted by Springfield College.

Co-captains Sam Shames and Ryan Madson won their respective weight classes this past weekend at the Doug Parker Invitational hosted by Springfield College. Sam won all four of his matches in dominatng fashion. He had 3 pins and won 10-0 in the finals over Nate Giorgio of The US Coast Guard Academy. Sam lost last week in the Roger Williams Invitational finals to Giorgio. In the semi finals, Sam pinned Tyler Marlow from Brockport who is currently ranked 6th in Division 3. Sam was winning 10-0 prior to the fall. Sam gave up only 1 takedown on the weekend. Sam is currently 7-1 this season. Ryan Madson won all 4 of his matches to claim the 165 pound championship. He defeated Joey Favia of Stevens Tech for a 2nd time in the semi fiinals. Favia is currently ranked 4th in Division 3. Ryan beat AIC’s Ronnie Tetreault 4-2 in the finals. Ryan was voted the tournaments Outstanding Wrestler by the coaches. Ryan is currently 9-0 this season Jaes Jones returned to the mat after being away for 2 years and was 3-2 on the day. Jaes won all 3 of his matches by pin. In doing so he won the most falls in the least amount of time award. The team finished in 10th place.

The MIT wrestling team competed at the Roger Williams Invitational on Saturday, November 12, 2011. The team finished tenth overall.

The MIT wrestling team competed at the Roger Williams Invitational on Saturday, November 12, 2011. The team finished tenth overall. Sophomore captain, Sam Shames finished second in the 125 pound weight class. Sam was very impressive winning his first 2 matches by technical fall and his third match by fall. In the finals, Sam was defeated by Nathaniel Giorgio of The US Coast Guard Academy by a score of 13-8. Junior captain, Ryan Madson won the 165 pound weight class in dominating fashion. He won 5 matches on the day, including 3 by fall. In the semi finals he defeated Joe Favia of Stevens college by a score of 6-0. Joe is currently ranked fourth at 165 pounds in Division 3. In the finals Ryan defeated Lucas Taylor of The US Coast Guard Academy by a score of 7-2. The 2 points in the finals were the only points scored on him the entire tournament. The team travels to Springfield College next Saturday to wrestle in The Doug Parker Invitational which starts at 10am.