California Baptist University
Midlands Wrestling Tournament
Rolling Into the New Year
12/30/2015 4:38:00 PM | Wrestling
CHICAGO, Ill.— For the first time in California Baptist University history, a wrestler has placed at the notorious Midlands Tournament. It all came in the program's first appearance at the prestigious event.
Who better to take this claim than Lancer heavyweight "Uncle" Joe Fagiano. Originally from the Chicago area, Fagiano placed eighth in his weight class and led his team to a 30th-place finish, beating NCAA Division I schools like Illinois, Indiana and Lehigh on overall team points. It continues an amazing run of success for Fagiano, who also placed at Cliff Keen earlier in December.
Going into Wednesday's final round, Fagiano had a 3-1 record in the tournament packed with Division I wrestlers. His first match of the second round to guarantee a top-eight finish was against Oregon State's Amarveer Dhesi, who is currently ranked fifth in Division I.
This was also a battle of brothers as CBU Coach Lennie Zalesky's brother, Jim Zalesky, is the head coach at Oregon State.
In thrilling fashion, Fagiano grabbed the win in overtime with a hard-fought takedown to make it 3-1.
"I wanted to give coach [Lennie Zalesky] the bragging rights at the Christmas table," Fagiano said jokingly. "It was a good match, there were a lot of good scrambles involved and I knew that one takedown would be the difference."
Head Coach Lennie Zalesky, who won his division at Midlands in 1980 and was also named the outstanding wrestler of the tournament, was happy with his heavyweight's performance.
"That's a big win," he said. "[Joe] wrestled smart, kept it close and kept him from tying up."
This is the first time the Lancers have competed at the famed Midlands tournament and was one of few, if not the only, non-Division I school to compete amongst the very best in collegiate wrestling.
