UAlbany Wrestlers Earn Accolades at NCWA Nationals

Members of the UAlbany wrestling team, including 15 young men, pose for a team photo outside of an arena in a roadway.
Members of the 2024-25 wrestling team pose for a team photo at the NCWA National Championships in Shreveport, La. The team finished in 17th place out of 85 teams. (Photo by Lexi Mastrantuono, '27)

By Michael Parker

ALBANY, N.Y. (March 18, 2025) — UAlbany's wrestling team sent 11 wrestlers to the national tournament in Shreveport, La., over the weekend, with six members of the club earning scholar All-American honors. The event, the National Collegiate Wrestling Championships, operates parallel to the NCAA and serves as an elite competition for top wrestling programs from throughout North America.

The championships were organized by the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA), a nonprofit association of 162 schools, colleges and club wrestling programs throughout the United States and Canada. UAlbany's team finished 17th overall out of 85 schools.

"UAlbany wrestling began as a small club during the 2023-24 school year," said senior Harry Conway, the social media/content creator for the team and a member of the squad from Nyack, N.Y., who wrestled at 174 pounds. "We started off as a group of students interested in the sport, utilizing whatever space we could find on campus. Now, we've made a name for UAlbany on the national stage."

A male wrestler with dark hair in a purple uni grapples with with another wrestler on a green wrestling mat.
UAlbany wrestler Klue Thaw, '27, competes in Day 1 of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association national tournament in Shreveport, La. Thaw won by technical fall, 16-0, over Thomas Milligan of UConn. He went on to earn All-American scholar athlete honors. (Photo by Lexi Mastrantuono, '27)

Conway explained how by the fall of 2024, the team's participation skyrocketed, to the point where they were able to bring in UAlbany alum Jefferson LaMountain '96, to serve as head coach of the program. The team also joined the NCWA in the fall, bringing the opportunity to schedule competitions with other collegiate wrestling clubs from throughout the Northeast and beyond.

"I congratulate the entire team for their dedication and commitment to the sport of wrestling," said LaMountain. "I also want to thank all of UAlbany's wrestling alumni, whose support and encouragement was truly inspiring."

UAlbany's NCAA wrestling program ceased in 1996. LaMountain pointed to the numerous alumni of the former Division III team that tuned into watch the matches and offer their expertise to help the current squad improve their performance.

"None of this would have happened in a vacuum," said LaMountain. "To come from where we started in the fall and then achieve what we did this year is a testament to the passion of all of the former wrestlers who got behind this team and helped carry us to the next level."

LaMountain also pointed to the local wrestling community that really helped the team through fundraising and fan support.

For the spring season, the team also brought in a second coach in Orion Anderson, a 2018 Schuylerville High School graduate who won three state championships before moving on to wrestle at Division-I Maryland.

The team went on to finish in second place at the Northeast Conference Championships on March 1, which served as the national qualifier for the student athletes. At the event, UAlbany saw 14 wrestlers earn place finishes, with 11 qualifying for nationals.

The students competing at the qualifiers included: 

  • Anthony Gaetani (Class of 2027, 125 lbs, 6th place)
  • Klue Thaw (Class of 2027, 133 lbs, 3rd Place)
  • David Argyros (Class of 2028, 141 lbs, 6th place)
  • Sean Romanski (Grad Student, 149 lbs, 3rd Place)
  • Jack Frustace (Class of 2026, 157 lbs, 3rd place)
  • Nick Bronzi (Class of 2025, 165 lbs, 5th Place)
  • Rodrigo Melendez (Class of 2025, 174 lbs, 5th place)
  • Hamidullah Faqeer (Class of 2027, 184 lbs, 3rd Place)
  • Joe Peretta (Class of 2026, 197 lbs, 5th Place)
  • Dominic Wood (Grad Student, 235 lbs, 3rd place)
  • Brandon Ress (Class of 2027, 285 lbs, 3rd place)
  • Alex Starace (Class of 2026, 125 lbs, 7th place)
  • Josh Martinez (Class of 2028, 141 lbs, 8th place)
  • Harry Conway (Class of 2025, 174 lbs, 8th place) 

Starace, Martinez and Conway fell just short of earning spots at the national tournament.

At nationals, Thaw, Romanski, Frustace, Bronzi, Peretta and Wood earned scholar All-American honors, the most of any school from the Northeast according to Conway.

"Although we fell just short of having an All-American squad, UAlbany still placed as a team 17th out of 85 in the country, showing that we’re back and this is not the last you’ll see of us," said Conway, who is majoring in Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity.

"It took a lot of work to get here between raising student interest, finding a space to wrestle, finding a coach and joining the NCWA," said Darguens Noel, president of UAlbany Wrestling and a human biology major from Holbrook, N.Y. "I couldn’t have done it without our board, especially our treasurer, Nick Bronzi, secretary Alexis Mastrantuono, vice president Jack Frustace and Coach LaMountain."