Brett Carlsen

The only thing that looked out of place on the third year Criminal Justice student: five black stitches on his brow, healing battle wound from his wrestling career.

Sean Sercu is co-captain of RIT’s wrestling team. He started the sport in Bishop Kearney High School as a sophomore. The Rochester student continued his education at Niagara County Community College, but took a break from both wrestling and education for a year. Now at the end of his third year at RIT, he has reached the position of captain. He shares the leadership position with his roommate, fourth year Mechanical Engineering major Adam Hugunine. Sercu is currently 23-9.

Becoming co-captain was an informal process. Sercu worked on pre-season practices and activities with the team, fostering fraternity with the players. “I was looked at as a captain,” Sercu said, “so I became a captain.” He and his partner Hugunine now lead the team to its future.

Most of the team members are young students, freshmen or sophomores. “Currently we’re 7-8,” Sercu said, “Which sounds bad, but is really good.” With the team members working together and working towards improving, they can become strong. “In a few years we’re going to have a really good team,” said Sercu.

Younger wrestlers suffer from lack of experience along with lack of size. Time and practice can fix these, and with working with their team over time, they can work together more effectively.

The team travelled to Cleveland, Ohio on February 17 for a quad team match. RIT faced Thiel College, Muskigum University, and Case Western Reserve University. RIT went 2-1, only losing to Thiel. Sercu scored 3-0, beating the current national champion. RIT’s wrestling team normally travels out of state multiple times a year for meets, along with home meets and local colleges. The team is looking forwards to expanding into meets and tournaments in the southern states.