Gennaro Bonaventura’s Four Years Leading Fairmont State Wrestling

Four years ago, Gennaro Bonaventura walked into a Fairmont State wrestling program with fewer than 20 athletes, a room that didn’t quite feel like a wrestling room yet, and a lot of work ahead of him. What he’s built in roster depth, academic achievement, competitive results, and team culture tells the story of what happens when a program does things the right way, consistently, year after year.

The 2025–26 season delivered some of the program’s finest moments to date. Four Falcons earned all-conference honors, and Colton Stoneking claimed his second consecutive conference championship, taking home Most Outstanding Wrestler honors in the process. At the regional tournament, Fairmont State set a program record with four placers. Stoneking punched his ticket to the national competition for the third time in his career.

Off the mat, eight wrestlers earned Academic All- American recognition. This is a program record, and a number that speaks to the expectations Bonaventura has built into the fabric of the Wrestling team. 

“We always want to win at the highest level,” he says. “But working with this group has been a blessing. It helps when you work with good people.”

Stoneking has embodied the Bonaventura era completely, ending his career this season as a four year starter, three-year captain, four-time Academic All-American, four-time regional placer, two-time conference champion, and 4.0 student.

At this year’s annual athletic banquet honoring student-athletes who have demonstrated tremendous achievement and skill, Stoneking took home three honors: Male Falcon of the Year, the Feaster Award for the highest cumulative GPA among senior student athletes, and the Colebank Award, presented to the most outstanding senior student-athlete for combined on and off the mat success. He is only the second wrestler in program history to receive the Colebank Award, joining Addison Courtney, who won in 2024. “Pretty much you name it, he did it,” Bonaventura says.

Stoneking arrived when the program was still finding its footing. He graduated this year leaving it standing on solid ground, with a standard that future Falcons will measure themselves against, quite literally, once his name goes up on the wall.

That wall project is next on the list. Bonaventura wants names up: conference champions, All-Americans, regional placers, national qualifiers. Every athlete who walks into the room should know exactly what’s been achieved there and what’s possible. 

“Seeing is believing,” he says. “You see those names up there, and you work hard every day to achieve that.”

The room itself has already been transformed. Donor investment has turned it into a genuine wrestling facility, one that signals to recruits and returning athletes alike that this program is serious. It’s one of the most tangible returns on donor investment Bonaventura can point to, and he’s not finished yet. 

Walk around the Fairmont State campus and you’ll find wrestlers. They’re in the LEAD Center – a tutoring and testing program on campus – where Stoneking and others have tutored fellow students. They’re at Student-Athlete Advisory Committee meetings and Fellowship of Christian Athletes events. They’re helping run the cheerleading competition and supporting the Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament that happens each year.

This is deliberate. Bonaventura recruits athletes, many of them from right here in West Virginia, who want to be part of something bigger than the mat. Aviation majors. Engineering students. Future educators. Student-athletes navigating lab schedules and practice times who know their coach will work around a tutoring appointment when needed.

“At the end of the day, we want them to be as successful off the mat as they are on it,” Bonaventura says. “We have to figure it out together.” 

The Academic All-American record this year, eight honorees, is the proof.

Bonaventura doesn’t hesitate when asked about the impact of donor investment. It’s athletic scholarships that make competitive recruiting possible. It’s travel that turns a college wrestling season into something more.

​The program has taken trips to New York City, Indianapolis, and beyond – experiences that have stayed with athletes long after a tournament has ended. “We had a lot of student-athletes from West Virginia who were on cloud nine in New York,” Bonaventura recalls. “Some of them said it was the best week of their lives. And that’s all because of donor support.”

Day of Giving dollars this year will go directly toward scholarships and the wrestling room wall project. Every dollar, he’s quick to note, is targeted and part of a plan, not an afterthought.

“It’s money well spent every year,” he says. “Everything donors give benefits the guys directly.”

As Bonaventura steps into an expanded role as director of wrestling, the program is breaking new ground. Fairmont State is launching a women’s wrestling program, and the early response has been remarkable. Less than a month after going public, the program is already halfway to a target roster of 12 for the fall.

Bonaventura credits the men’s program’s reputation and social media presence for generating early momentum, and he’s energized by the challenge ahead. A women’s head coach has just been hired. Additional staff support is planned. And the same blueprint that grew a men’s roster from 15 to nearly 40 student-athletes, with records on the books, is ready to be applied again with the new women’s team.

“We just have to keep doing the right things and building the right way,” he says. “We’ll get more support as we go.”

The gaps are closing. The room looks the part. The roster is full and growing. And now, for the first time, there are two programs to build.

For Gennaro Bonaventura, that’s not a burden. It’s the next four years.

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