While the men’s basketball team was securing a place in the conference finals, the Binghamton University men’s wrestling team was playing in a championship of their own. The Bearcats had six wrestlers place at the Colonial Athletic Association Championship in Virginia over the weekend, leading to a fourth place finish overall.

Of the six wrestlers who placed, two finished third, three finished fourth and 184-pound junior Josh Patterson finished first, earning him an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

“I thought we achieved pretty much our goal we set out to achieve, placing as many guys as we possibly could at the conference tournament,” said Binghamton head coach Pat Popolizio. “I thought the guys wrestled to their expectations, and some probably over their expectations.”

Patterson, now 41-4 overall this season and currently ranked No. 6 in the nation in his weight class by InterMat, was the top seed in his bracket over the weekend. He earned a 9-1 decision over Carmen Rondash of Boston University in the first round, pinned fourth-seeded Joe Budi of Old Dominion in the second round and beat second seed Doug Umbehauer with an 8-1 decision to win the tournament.

“He dominated the tournament against a very competitive weight class for our conference,” Popolizio said. “And beating a kid that was a round away from placing at the national tournament a year ago and a guy that has beaten him in the past. He’s showing his improvement.”

Fourth-seeded sophomore Tyler Malmberg finished fourth in the 125-pound weight class, beating No. 5 seed Mike Gomez of Drexel in the first round before losing to top seed James Nicholson of Old Dominion. He would go on to lose to No. 3 Brian Wright of George Mason in the third place match.

In the 133-pound weight class, unseeded junior Mike Kleeman lost both of his matches, including a first round matchup against No. 1 Lou Ruggirello of Hofstra University. Another No. 4 seed, redshirt-sophomore Anwar Goeres, finished third in the 141-pound weight class, losing to top-seeded Ryan Williams of Old Dominion but pulling out a 3-2 decision against the fifth seed and a 10-8 upset over the No. 3 seed. Matt Kaylor, a 141-pound redshirt-freshman ranked fourth in the 149-pound bracket, finished fourth, beating the No. 5 and 3 seeds in the process.

Senior 157-pound wrestler Nate Patterson was ranked fifth in his bracket. Despite the low seed, he pulled off the upset against No. 4 Kaylen Baxter of Old Dominion and No. 3 Frankie McLaughlin of George Mason to earn an unexpected third place finish.

Redshirt-sophomore Ryan McGarity, ranked No. 5 for the 165-pound weight class, upset the No. 4 seed but couldn’t overcome No. 3 Jason Lapham of Rider and finished without placing.

Redshirt-junior Anthony Esposito, who wrestled at 174 pounds, and 194-pound freshman Carl Korpi were both unseeded and both failed to win a match. At 197 pounds, Corey Waite rounded out the surprise finishes, earning fourth place despite not being ranked in his bracket. He was one of the wrestlers with whom Popolizio was especially pleased.

“[Waite] moved up a weight class last minute, the last couple weeks of the season, and finished fourth, which was a huge improvement from where he went a year ago,” he said. “I don’t think he won a match in the conference tournament last year … and then this year he finished fourth, up a weight class. He showed some big improvements. Tyler Malmberg also placed fourth at a weight that’s pretty competitive.”

On the whole, Popolizio was very pleased with his team’s performance, noting that all of his wrestlers either finished at or above what was expected by their seeding. Now the team must look to the NCAA Championship. Currently only Josh Patterson has earned an automatic berth, but Popolizio says that Nate Patterson has a “50-50 chance” of earning an at-large bid, which he says will be announced today at 5 p.m.

Right now, though, the focus is on Josh Patterson, who has high hopes for the national tournament.

“After this weekend I don’t think he’s just looking to place at the nationals,” Popolizio said. “I think he’s looking to possibly win a national title.”

The NCAA Championship will be held in St. Louis, Mo., from March 19 to 21.