By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- There will be a new tradition started during the upcoming Bridgewater State University wrestling season.

When BSU takes on Western New England University at Kelly Gym Saturday afternoon, Nov. 16, the teams will be competing for the Bear Cup.

A trophy will be awarded to the winner of the dual meet, and the plan is for the Bear Cup to be an annual event between the Bears of BSU and the Golden Bears of WNEU.

The meet during the 2025-26 season would be scheduled to take place in Springfield with Bridgewater hosting again in the 2026-27 season.

The plan for the Bear Cup was originated by BSU assistant coach Fox Maxwell, a 2022 graduate of the school who qualified for the NCAA Division 3 tournament during his career.

BSU head coach Frank Cammisa, who went to the NCAAs four times when he wrestled for the Bears,and WNEU head coach Mike Sugermeyer were both on board with the idea and have made it happen starting next month.

Maxwell, Cammisa and Sugermeyer want to give their wrestlers a rivalry to have during the dual meet season and also have the Bear Cup serve as a special incentive.

"I wanted to give the kids something they can look forward to every single year and get up for," said Maxwell. "I wanted this to be the most important dual meet of the year, build excitement around that for both teams.

"I thought it would be a good idea for a multitude of reasons. No. 1, one of our goals as coaches is to create an exceptional experience for our student-athletes. This is all about the kids.

"Wrestling is kind of a unique sport. (Most of) the other teams at Bridgewater State are in the MASCAC and we're in the (New England Wrestling Association). We don't wrestle Salem State, Worcester State, those schools. We never really had a rival.

"You look at why college football is so successful and it's because of the tradition behind it and the pageantry. People love to watch Ohio State vs. Michigan because of how intense it is. That's what a rivalry does."

BSU and WNEU met in a dual meet last Jan. 27 with the Golden Bears prevailing. The teams usually square off in a tri-meet or quad-meet, so this will give them a chance to compete every season in a dual meet format.

Cammisa, a 2011 Bridgewater State graduate, has known Sugarmeyer, a 2013 Rhode Island College graduate, since they were competitors in college wrestling.

"Coach Sugarmeyer and myself wrestled in the same time period. and we've been friends," said Cammisa. "We wrestle them pretty much every year in meets, so we said, 'Let's make it a single dual meet and add a little more to it.

"We'll select a date every year and hopefully it's something we can continue for many, many years. We'll definitely make it work. We're very friendly and competitors. We want what's best for our programs and wrestling in New England."

Two other teams in the region, Norwich University and Vermont State University Castleton, call their annual dual meet the Battle for the Green Mountain Championship.

The BSU coaches are hoping to bring more attention to wrestling in the state by having the Bear Cup take place every season.

"There's no real premier college wrestling event in the state of Massachusetts," said Maxwell, "so I wanted to create that environment, too. It's Western New England vs. Bridgewater State, but we can get high school wrestlers and youth wrestlers to come and fill Kelly Gymnasium and the gym at Western New England for this every year."

This year's BSU-WNEU meeting for the Bear Cup happens to place on Alumni Day at Bridgewater.

"The football team has the Cranberry Bowl with Mass. Maritime, but our student-athletes don't have that experience," said Maxwell. "It should be a great event. We'll have a lot of alumni back. It's going to be an amazing dual meet and an amazing event as well."

The Bears have four dual meets this season, starting on Nov. 1 at the University of Southern Maine.

The wrestlers already have the Bear Cup, the third meet of the season, circled as a special occasion.

"They're really looking forward to it," said Maxwell. "They're excited. They know they're making history. It's the first one. They're fired up."

Said Cammisa, "They know this is the first of many with the Bear Cup and the trophy we'll have back and forth. It adds a little extra to just a regular-season dual meet."