The Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference has honored SUNY Oneonta freshman James Bethel (Saugerties/Saugerties) as its Wrestler of the Week.  This is the sixth time this winter that Bethel has been honored by the ECWC, the previous five times he was selected as the Rookie of the Week.
 
Bethel was chosen after capturing the Northeast Region title at 285 lbs. this past weekend, which earned him an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III championships in Hershey, PA on Mar. 13-14.
 
Bethel continued his incredible season-long run posting a 4-0 mark en route to winning the heavyweight class at the Regionals.  He was seeded second overall and pinned his first three opponents, including 10th-ranked Lance Moore of SUNY Cortland in just under four minutes to advance to the finals.
 
The final bout not only gave Bethel a chance for regional supremacy, but a chance to avenge a 9-7 loss to top-seeded, Terrence Jean-Jacques of Rhode Island College in November.  Jean-Jacques entered the match with a perfect 31-0 record while being ranked No. 5 in Division III. After racking up over one minute of riding time in the first period, Bethel used a keen sense of awareness after being taken down to get an immediate reversal to seal the win late in the third period, 7-5. He led all ECWC wrestlers by racking up 22 team points during the regionals.
 
Bethel will take with him an eye-popping 36-4 record with him to nationals including a streak of 29 straight wins.  He has collected 21 pins to this point, which has tied the Oneonta single season record set by current teammate, Chad Obzud (Cohoes/Lansingburgh), during the 2012-13 season.
 
The Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference is made up of Alfred State, Brockport, Cortland, Ithaca, Lycoming, Oneonta, Oswego and Rochester Institute of Technology.