Monthly Archives: March 2013

2013 EIWA Pre-Seeds

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2013 EIWA Pre-Seeds, Courtesy of Wrestling Report

125
1. Nahshon Garrett, Cornell
2. Mark Rappo, Penn
3. Joe Langel, Rutgers
4. David Terao, American
5. Jeffrey Ott, Harvard
6. Billy Watterson, Brown
7. Alex Abreu, Lehigh
8. Patrick Prada, Navy
9. Penn Gottfried, Columbia

133
1. Vinny Dellefave, Rutgers
2. Randy Cruz, Lehigh
3. Bricker Dixon, Cornell
4. Colton Rasche, Navy
5. Jordan Thome, Army
6. Paul Petrov, Bucknell
7. Jeff Canfora, Penn
8. Matt Bystol, Columbia
T9. Robert Ruiz, F&M
T9. Shay Warren, Harvard
11. Esteban Gomez-Rivera, American

141
1. Mike Nevinger, Cornell
2. Steven Keith, Harvard
3. C. J. Cobb, Penn
4. Trevor Melde, Rutgers
5. Richard Durso, F&M
6. Connor Hanafee, Army
7. Joe Locksmith, Navy
8. Anthony Salupo, Lehigh
9. Kevin Moylan, Princeton

149
1. Steve Santos, Columbia
2. Shane Welsh, Lehigh
3. Daniel Young, Army
4. Chris Villalonga, Cornell
5. Kevin Tao, American
6. Zach Bintliff, Princeton
7. Raymond Borja, Navy
8. Andrew Lenzi, Penn
9. Todd Preston, Harvard

157
1. Walter Peppelman, Harvard
2. Joey Napoli, Lehigh
3. Bobby Barnhisel, Navy
4. Scott Winston, Rutgers
5. Jake O’Hara, Columbia
6. Jesse Shanaman, Cornell
7. Vincent Favia, Bucknell
8. Troy Hernandez, Penn
9. John Belanger, Army
10. Philip Marano, Brown

165
1. Kyle Dake, Cornell
2. Corey Lear, Bucknell
3. Casey Kent, Penn
T4. Paul Hancock, Army
T4. Peyton Walsh, Navy
6. Nicholas Visicaro, Rutgers
7. Josh Houldsworth, Columbia
8. Philip Barreiro, American
9. Giuseppe Lanzi, Brown

174
1. Nate Brown, Lehigh
2. Mat Miller, Navy
3. Greg Zannetti, Rutgers
4. Stephen West, Columbia
5. Ian Korb, Penn
6. Cole Gracey, Army
7. Cameron Croy, Harvard
8. Marshall Peppelman, Cornell
9. Ryan Callahan, Princeton

184
1. Robert Hamlin, Lehigh
2. Steve Bosak, Cornell
3. Dan Rinaldi, Rutgers
4. Mason Bailey, Navy
5. Canaan Bethea, Penn
6. Ophir Bernstein, Brown
7. Scott Gibbons, Princeton
8. Ryan Tompkins, Army
9. Josh Popple, Harvard
10. Thomas Barreiro, American

197
1. Micah Burak, Penn
2. James Fox, Harvard
3. Oscar Huntley, Navy
4. Bryce Barnes, Army
5. Jace Bennett, Cornell
6. Sterling Hecox, Brown *
7. John Bolich, Lehigh
8. Tyler Lyster, Bucknell
9. Nick Mills, Columbia

285
1. Billy Smith, Rutgers
2. Blake Herrin, American
3. Stryker Lane, Cornell
4. Daniel Miller, Navy
5. Joe Stolfi, Bucknell
6. Steven Graziano, Penn
7. Max Wessell, Lehigh
8. David Ng, Harvard
9. Colin Wittmeyer, Army
10. Nicholas Gaijzik, Harvard

*Late withdrawal

MAC Pre-Seeds Are Released; Galloway, Lewandowski and Cannon in the Top Four for Host Buffalo

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(Courtesy of buffalobulls.com)

The following are the pre-seeds for the MAC Championships, which will be held in Buffalo this weekend.  Leading the way for the Bulls are Erik Galloway (#2 at 141), Mark Lewandowski (#3 at 165) and John-Martin Cannon (#4 at 174).  Returning NCAA qualifier Max Soria (125) and Angelo Malvestuto (197) are both pre-seeded fifth.

The full list is below:

125:
1) Alan Waters, Missouri
2) Christian Cullinan, Central Michigan
3) Steve Mitcheff, Kent State
4) Jared Germaine, Eastern Michigan
5) Max Soria, Buffalo
6) Ryan Jauch, Northern Iowa
7) Kevon Powell, Ohio
8)Derek Elmore, Northern Illinois

133:
1) Nathan McCormick, Mizzouri
2) Scotti Sentes, Central Michigan
3) Levi Wolfensperger, Northern Iowa
4) Nick Smith, Northern Illinois
5) Mackenzie McGuire, Kent State
6) Vince Pizzuto, Eastern Michigan
7) Justin Farmer, Buffalo
8)Joey Munoz, Ohio

141:
1) Joey Lazor, Northern Iowa
2) Erik Galloway, Buffalo
3) Kevin Fanta, Northern Illinois
4) Nick Hucke, Missouri
5) Scott Mattingly, Central Michigan
6) Seth Schaner, Eastern Michigan
7) Dillon Kern, Kent State
8)Kagan Squire, Ohio

149:
1) Drake Houdasheldt, Missouri
2) Donnie Corby, Central Michigan
3) Bart Reiter, Northern Iowa
4) Andrew Romanchik, Ohio
5) Rob Jillard, Northern Illinois
6) Blake Roulo, Buffalo
7) Mike Shaw, Eastern Michigan
8)Andrew Candillo, Kent State

157:
1) Kyle Bradley, Missouri
2) David Bonin, Northern Iowa
3) Aaron Sulzer, Eastern Michigan
4) Spartak Chino, Ohio
5) Lucas Smith, Central Michigan
6) Andrew Morse, Northern Illinois
7) Wally Maziarz, Buffalo
8)Tommy Sasfy, Kent State

165:
1) Mike Ottinger, Central Michigan
2) Zach Toal, Missouri
3) Mark Lewandowski, Buffalo
4) Caleb Marsh, Kent State
5) Harrison Hightower, Ohio
6) Jake Davis, Eastern Michigan
7) Sam Bennett, Northern Illinois
8)Jarrett Jensen, Northern Iowa

174:
1) Todd Porter, Missouri
2) Cody Walters, Ohio
3) Sam Wheeler, Kent State
4) John-Martin Cannon, Buffalo
5) Craig Kelliher, Central Michigan
6) Cody Caldwell, Northern Iowa
7) Matt Mougin, Northern Illinois
8)Phillip Joseph, Eastern Michigan

184:
1) Ben Bennett, Central Michigan
2) Ryan Loder, Northern Iowa
3) Mike Larson, Missouri
4) Casey Newburg, Kent State
5) Michael Duckworth, Ohio
6) Khodor Hoballah, Eastern Michigan
7) Tony Lock, Buffalo
8)Bryan Loughlin, Northern Illinois

197:
1) Dustin Kilgore, Kent State
2) Brent Haynes, Missouri
3) Nick Whitenburg, Eastern Michigan
4) Phillip Wellington, Ohio
5) Angelo Malvestuto, Buffalo
6) Parker Settecase, Northern Illinois
7) Taylor Ketteman, Northern Iowa
8)Jackson Lewis, Central Michigan

285:
1) Dom Bradley, Missouri
2) Jarod Trice, Central Michigan
3) Jeremy Johnson, Ohio
4) Blayne Beale, Northern Iowa
5) Jared Torrence, Northern Illinois
6) Keith Witt, Kent State
7) Justin Heiserman, Buffalo
8)Chris Eggert, Eastern Michigan

Maryland State Champ Diallo Joins Highly-Acclaimed Binghamton Recruiting Class

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Thierno Diallo is no stranger to picking things up quickly.  After all, within months of arriving in the United States in elementary school, he was interacting and communicating in English, a language he didn’t know at all when leaving his native country – Guinea.

So it wasn’t a huge surprise to those who knew Diallo, a future 125 or 133 pounder for Binghamton, that just three weeks after seeing his first-ever wrestling action, he won the county championship at 103 pounds.

It was his freshman year at DuVal High in Maryland and the football coach, who also assisted with the wrestling team, suggested that getting on the mat would help make Diallo better on the gridiron.

“I watched a lot of tape and learned a lot by doing that,” he said. “I didn’t wrestle at the beginning of the season, but once I started, it came together for me.  I had a really good coach who taught me what I needed to know and who helped me make the transition.”

He didn’t only win that county crown just a few weeks into his career, however.  Shortly afterwards, he took fourth at the regional event to qualify for an appearance at the Maryland State championships.

“Wrestling at the state tournament was definitely shocking,” he said. “When I walked in, it wasn’t what I ever expected.  In my first match, I don’t remember anything until the third period.  I was too busy worrying about the people in the stands before I realized that I needed to focus on wrestling.  I lost that match and I learned a lot.  It was a stepping stone for me.”

While he originally began wrestling to help his performance on the football field, he quickly changed course.  Because after even a short period of time on the mat, he decided wrestling was his future.

“I ended up falling so much in love with wrestling that I quit football to focus on it,” he said. “As soon as I started, I realized I liked the one on one part of it. It’s just you, depending on no one else.  I liked the idea of having to do it myself.”

While he had a lot of quick success, he knew longer-term achievements would come from really immersing himself in the sport.

“I spent the time going to camps and as many tournaments as I could,” he said. “I just wrestled and wrestled and wrestled.  It made me so much better in just a few months.  I came back for my next season much more prepared.”

Diallo once again breezed through the county and regional competitions and arrived at the state event with more confidence.  He went all the way to the finals before dropping the title bout to take second.  Then, as a junior, he again lost a single match at the biggest event of the season, picking up a bronze medal.

Without a state championship, he wasn’t satisfied. Diallo set out to make up for it in the offseason by taking on some of the nation’s best.

That began in Philadelphia at the FloNationals, where he entered at 113 pounds.  After a first round victory, he dropped a 3-1 decision to Pennsylvania’s Tanner Shoap.  He knew it was a long road from there to make the podium.

“Going into the tournament, I thought I would be able to be an All-American there if I wrestled the way I knew I could,” he said. “After I lost, I looked at the bracket with my coach and we saw that I would need to win a lot of matches to place.  My coach said, ‘Well, let’s get started.’  I kept doing it one match at a time.”

Diallo won five consecutive contests to get himself in the medal picture.  After a setback against Angel Velazquez of California, he defeated New Jersey’s Luis Gonzalez to capture seventh.

“That was a really exciting moment for me,” he said. “It taught me that I could wrestle against the best of the best and that I could wrestle match after match and not be exhausted.  It was a fun learning experience.”

Another such experience took place a bit later in the offseason, when Diallo decided to make a run at the Junior Freestyle and Greco Roman Nationals.

“I wrestled at the Maryland states in Freestyle and Greco the year before but hadn’t practiced those styles again,” he said. “I liked Freestyle and Greco, though, and I thought, maybe I would try to get to Fargo.”

He did well enough to represent his state in North Dakota and he made an impact there, taking fourth at 120 in Greco.  He said he plans on returning this summer for another chance to get higher on the medal stand.

But despite the accolades at those national competitions, Diallo’s main goal was to get an elusive state crown.  He cruised through the 2012-13 season at 126 pounds, sporting a 31-0 mark coming into last weekend’s Maryland tournament.

In his first three bouts, Diallo outscored his opponents 38-0 to make the finals.  And then, he finished the job with a 7-1 victory in the title match to get the gold medal missing from his collection.

“It was a relief to finally win state title,” he said. “It was the only thing left that I really felt like I needed to win. I had a chip on my shoulder after taking second and third the last two years.  I was really motivated to be the best this year.”

Even prior to finishing atop the podium, Diallo had a number of colleges recruiting him, including Maryland and North Carolina State.  But he felt that Binghamton was the right choice.

“Binghamton seemed like a perfect fit for me,” he said.  “It’s not too far away from home, but far enough.  I loved the look of the campus and the high academic standards.  My parents moved to this country because of better educational opportunities and getting a really good education is something that my family really values. Binghamton had all the right pieces and parts to be the place I want to be for the next four or five years.”

Diallo joins a stellar recruiting class for the Bearcats, which includes a number of the top ranked seniors in New York such as Zack Zupan, Nick Kelley, Nick Tighe, Kyle Kelly, David Almaviva and Bryce Mazurowski.

While those wrestlers have familiarity with the Empire State already, there’s no doubt Diallo will pick up what he needs to know about the Section 4 area in no time.

After all, picking new things up quickly is something he has done many times before.

Bound for Brown: State Runner Up James Corbett Moving On to the Ivy League

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It was all in a day’s work for James Corbett. Early morning weigh-in? Check. Take (and do well on) the all-important SATs (while wearing a singlet underneath clothes to save time). Check. Get back to the gym and win a number of matches for Wantagh. Check.

Days like that one, from Corbett’s junior season, are an illustration of what Warriors head coach Paul Gillespie identified as one of Corbett’s strengths – balancing his academics and wrestling.

“James has always managed his time so well,” Gillespie said. “His academics have always come first but he also made sure to get his lifting and working out in too. His time management skills are one of the many reasons I know he’ll do really well at the college level.”

Photo by BV

That college experience will take place in Providence, Rhode Island where Corbett, the 2013 New York State Division I runner up at 182 pounds, will begin his Ivy League education in the fall.

“I knew Brown was where I wanted to be,” Corbett said. “I liked how the curriculum worked, where you make your own schedule. They have a really good science program that I want to be involved in [as an environmental science major]. And I knew I wanted to go Division I in wrestling. I didn’t speak to a single other college. I thought the match was really good for me.”

With his commitment, Corbett joined the elite company of two of his teammates. Chris Araoz and Danny McDevitt previously announced their plans to attend Ivy institutions (Columbia and Penn, respectively).

“I think it’s almost expected of Wantagh seniors to go Division I and to strive for an Ivy school,” Corbett said. “Coach Gillespie knows how to get us there. McDevitt and Araoz are good friends of mine and they already had their plans figured out earlier on. They had colleges talking to them before the season and honestly, I didn’t have the credentials, so colleges weren’t talking to me.”

While Corbett didn’t yet have statewide recognition prior to the 2012-13 campaign, he had plenty of success in Nassau County. As a sophomore, he put together a campaign with over 35 wins that ended with a first round loss at the Section 8 tournament. In his junior season, he again piled up victories with a 32-6 mark, despite wrestling at a number of different weight classes in the lineup. A late-season move up to 182 yielded a fourth place finish at the County tournament that didn’t bring about an appearance in Albany, but did pay future dividends.

“As the season went on, I kept growing,” he said. “I had to cut more and more weight and Coach Gillespie told me to just go up to 182. He said my style would be fine there and since I would be wrestling there anyway as a senior, I might as well get ready.”

Corbett did several other things to prepare for his last campaign in Wantagh.

“James really worked hard in his weight training,” Gillespie said. “And I think working hard in the offseason with [former Hofstra All-American] PJ Gillespie and Danny McDevitt also really helped raise his level. His technique improved drastically.”

“Working with a college All-American like PJ and a high school All-American like Danny was so important for me,” Corbett added. “They were great drilling partners. I didn’t really do any big tournaments or events in the offseason but I went into the Wantagh room and drilled and focused on my technique. PJ got me so much better, really fast. I think it was the last part of the puzzle that helped my high school career.”

That improvement was obvious from the very beginning of the season. In the opening weekend, he posted a pair of first period pins and a 15-0 technical fall in his three bouts.

And two weeks later, in Wantagh’s next competition, he posted four victories – including three by fall. However, it was the only non-bonus point win, a 5-2 decision over returning All-State wrestler Gio Santiago of Sachem North, that was most significant.

“Coming in, I thought Santiago might be the best 182 pounder in the state,” Gillespie said. “When James beat him, I had a good indication of how much better he had become. It gave him a lot of confidence and at that point, I thought he could challenge for the state title.”

Corbett agreed that the victory gave him a boost, but he said he really started to believe that he could make a big splash at the Times Union Center after taking third at the challenging Eastern States Classic, where his only loss came to returning state champion Zack Zupan, a Division II grappler headed to Binghamton.

“I went into the Eastern States without looking at a bracket, just knowing that many of the best wrestlers in New York would be there,” he said. “I just wanted to wrestle well and when I placed high, I thought there wouldn’t be too many guys in the state who could beat me. It gave me a lot of confidence about what I could do the rest of the year.”

What he did for much of the rest of the year was simple – he dominated. He won 13 bouts in a row after the big tournament at SUNY Sullivan, with all but two victories coming with bonus points. One of those regular decisions was a 7-1 triumph over Plainedge’s Robert Ng to earn the Nassau crown and his first trip to the state championships.

He had a distinctive style that helped him along the way, according to Gillespie.

“James has a boxer’s mentality,” the coach said. “He’s a very physical guy, who lost a few points because of how physical he sometimes was. But it was good in a lot of ways since wrestling is basically a controlled fight.”

“I do like wrestling in a really physical way,” Corbett agreed. “I want to be on top of my opponents and let them know that I’m there and I’m not going anywhere. I guess the thing I learned this year was not to be that way in the practice room. But in matches, it’s a big part of how I compete.”

It worked well. He began his journey at the state tournament with a pin and a pair of decisions to punch his ticket to the Saturday night finals. But he made sure to treat the entire experience like any other event.

“[Being at the state tournament] wasn’t different for me, because I wouldn’t let myself see it that way,” he said. “I stayed in the locker room until it was time to wrestle and then I made sure I was looking down and not at the crowd when I was walking to the mat. Then, after my matches, I came back and found a quiet spot in the locker room until it was time to wrestle again. I think that’s why I wasn’t really impacted by my first trip to [the state tournament].”

Photo by BV

In the finals, Corbett and returning state finalist Shayne Brady of Carthage were deadlocked at 3 at the end of regulation. In sudden victory, Brady, who will wrestle at North Carolina State, got a takedown to earn the gold medal and send Corbett to the silver.

“I felt that I wrestled consistently the whole weekend, which is what I wanted,” Corbett said. “[Brady] got in and got the points he needed. That’s the sport. There were plenty of times this year when I needed a takedown to win or a rideout to win and I got it. I’m grateful for that. I’m grateful for the season I had.”

He also expressed gratitude for being part of the Wantagh program. After all, the squad did a lot of winning, including capturing New York’s biggest events in 2012-13 – the Union-Endicott Duals, the Eastern States and the New York States. Picking up all of those honors is something Corbett said he felt Wantagh was supposed to do.

“When I was in eighth grade, the team led by guys like Paul Ligouri and Johnny Greisheimer set the tone for what was expected,” he said. “They inspired us and made us feel like we should win all the time. But I think the coaching staff and the family feel are what really makes it special. Everyone’s close. Coach Gillespie might call you on a Sunday afternoon just to see how things are going – even in the offseason. There’s a great vibe in the room.”

That room has produced a number of current Division I wrestlers and that number will change again in the fall, including the addition of Corbett as a 184 or 197 pounder to the Brown roster.

Environmental science and Division I wrestling at one of the nation’s top universities? It’s all in a day’s work for James Corbett.

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James Corbett wished to thank “anyone who ever coached me or gave me help in any way, shape or form, especially in the wrestling community.”

Wantagh's Danny McDevitt, Champion On and Off the Mat, Commits to Penn

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By MATT DIANO

The story of Wantagh High School senior Danny McDevitt’s commitment to Coach Rob Eiter and the University of Pennsylvania wrestling team has become something of a running joke at New York Wrestling News.  An article that we had intended to bring to you in mid-January when the news became official, it seemed that every time we sat down to pen the piece, McDevitt would go on to win another big event later in that week, forcing us to start anew.

Photo by BV

With these sentiments in mind, it might seem peculiar that we are choosing now, fresh off of an event (the 2013 New York State tournament) that the Warrior student-athlete did not win, to finally publish. We would disagree.  Because, for those of you who know the future Quaker and have had the privilege of following his career, you already are keenly aware of the fact that independent of any scoreboards, brackets or podiums, Danny McDevitt is, was, and will be a champion, both on the wrestling mat and especially in life.  So no, this article is not about a 2013 New York State champion making his college selection; it is much bigger than that. It’s about a young man, with tremendous depth of character, realizing his dream.  This is an All-American story about an individual who has always done Wantagh proud and will continue to do so next fall when he steps foot on the Philadelphia-based Ivy League campus.

So who is Danny McDevitt?  If you answered, “wrestler”, you would be correct, but would also be guilty of painting the talents and attributes of this young man with much too broad a brush.  He is a scholar, ranking towards the top of his class academically; a brother, who has such a tight and loving bond with his siblings that after watching him win the 2013 Nassau County title, his sister could not help but be overjoyed and sing his praises on a live interview being conducted on MSG Varsity; and above all else, Danny is known as a generous and selfless friend.

The latter would be on full display this past weekend when despite being at the lowest point of his senior season (after losing for the first time), McDevitt did something that brings tears to my eyes, just thinking about it.  If you want to know what makes McDevitt special, it’s that without a second thought, he was the person who took it upon himself to go over to 2013 New York State runner up, John Vrasidas (who because he is from the CHSAA is not eligible for the full array of awards bestowed upon other placewinners) and hand him the second-place medal because as Danny was quoted as saying, “you deserve this.”

Photo by BV

All of the aforementioned having been said, we return to McDevitt’s prowess on the wrestling mat, a home away from home for him where he has been about as dominant as you can get during his six year varsity career.  A four-time Section 8 placewinner, winning the title the past two years at 138 and 170 pounds respectively, the only times McDevitt did not win the Nassau County title, he came pretty darn close, finishing as a bronze medalist as a freshman before taking home runner-up honors in 2011.  As important as individual honors may be, if you ask McDevitt, he is quick to redirect attention back on his teammates by reminding us that during the four years he was a student at Wantagh, the Warriors never failed to finish lower than second in the team standings, winning titles from 2011-2013.

State-wise, this consummate gentleman more than held his own, earning a pair of top-five finishes in Albany, including a bronze medal this past weekend that witnessed him shake off a heartbreaking loss in the quarterfinals to Vrasidas to win four straight bouts in the consolation bracket.  He added this hard-fought third place showing to the fifth place performance he notched last year, losing a pair of nailbiters in the semifinal and consolation semifinal rounds.

Nationally, the Paul Gillespie (at Wantagh) and Craig Vitagliano (at the Ascend Wrestling Club) trained student-athlete has also enjoyed success, demonstrating on multiple occasions that he possesses the skill level to go toe-to-toe with the country’s elite.  (Gillespie mentioned that the presence of former Hofstra All-American PJ Gillespie in the room during the 2012-13 season provided another boost to McDevitt’s performance).  Earning his first All-American distinction in 2011 at the NHSCA Sophomore National tournament with an eighth place finish, McDevitt would return to Virginia Beach last season, improving his lot by a few spots, placing fifth.  Should he make the decision to compete in the Senior tournament, it would hardly surprise anyone to see him ascend (no pun intended) to the top of the podium.

With regard to what awaits McDevitt in the future, I can tell you this; if desire to achieve is any indicator of success on the collegiate level, then this young man is going all the way.  Someone who could have attended pretty much any college or university in the country, it is impossible to overstate how much McDevitt is looking forward to being a Quaker.  In chatting with him for only a few moments, it is easy to tell how invested he is in making the next four years the most fulfilling of his life.

“I am ecstatic about UPenn,” McDevitt said. “My mother was always passionate about me going there and was extremely happy when I got in.”

As it pertains to what it was about the fourth oldest university in the country that ultimately won him over and convinced him that it was the best place for him, McDevitt, who intends to major in business, was quick to speak about the unmatched reputation of the Wharton School, which continues to produce some of the finest corporate minds in the world.  He also was very complimentary of Eiter, suggesting that his future coach’s immediate interest in him was confidence boosting and won him over.  Stating it succinctly, McDevitt said, “Everything about the school is just fantastic.”

Speaking candidly about his star pupil, Vitagliano could not contain his genuine pride.

“I’m extremely excited for Danny, his family and Coach Gillespie,” Vitagliano said. “Coach Eiter is getting a really special kid here! He and I have been through a lot together these past five years and I feel extremely honored to have been a part of his journey. This year has been exceptionally tough for him and the fact he was able to overcome his difficulties really shows what he is made of and is an indication of how well he will do in the future.”

 

Cortland Wins DIII Northeast Regional With Four Champions; Stony Brook Earns First National Qualifiers as NCWA Program

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On to Nationals! A number of wrestlers from New York schools punched their tickets this weekend in Division III and the NCWA on Saturday and Sunday.

In a field consisting of 18 squads, Cortland took top honors at the Division III Northeast Regional in Massachusetts, with four champions. It was the first year of the new Regional format in which the top three finishers move on to Nationals.

B. Dierna, Photo by BV

Leading the way for the Red Dragons were gold medalists Bobby Dierna (149), Troy Sterling (157), Lou Puca (174) and Jared Myhrberg (197). Also getting a bid to the NCAAs in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on March 15 and 16 were Alec Dierna (third at 133) and Corey James (third at 285).

Ithaca also had a strong showing at the event, earning bronze in the team race. Ricardo Gomez (125) and Alex Gomez (133) won titles for the Bombers, while Jules Doliscar (second at 174) and Dominick Giacolone (third at 141) are also heading to the NCAAs after notching spots high on the podium.

A few additional Empire State representatives will be joining those wrestlers in Cedar Rapids – Oswego State’s Blake Fisher grabbed second at 157, while Oneonta State’s Shaun Gillen was the bronze placer at 165.

Full brackets and results are available on http://www.trackwrestling.com.

First Qualifiers for Stony Brook . . . And Many for RPI

It may be Stony Brook’s first season in competition, but that didn’t stop the Seawolves from making their presence felt at the NCWA Northeast Regional tournament in New Hampshire.

The Suffolk County school took sixth place in the team standings and qualified six wrestlers for the Nationals, which will take place in Allen, Texas on March 14-15. Mike Shimer was the runner up at 149 pounds while Bobby Beneventano (133) and Juan Velasquez (heavyweight) were third. Also locking up spots for the big show were a trio of fifth placers, Scott Dunkirk (165), Mike Lloyd (197) and Kyle Folk-Freund (235).*

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) will take seven placers to the NCWA Nationals, according to head coach Brad Nelson. Automatically qualifying by finishing in the top five in New Hampshire this weekend were: Will Bonagura (second at 165), Alec Vogel (third at 125), Stuart Curtis (fourth at 184), Omar Abdoun (fourth at 197) and Enrico Cascio (fifth at 174).

Earning wildcard spots were Brad Huzinga at 285 and Ray Douglas at 197. RPI finished seventh out of 22 teams despite not having scorers in five weight classes.

 

*Results from Stony Brook’s Facebook page

** RPI results from head coach Brad Nelson

 

 

Pick Your Champions Prediction Contests: Results Are In!

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Thank you to everyone who entered our New York State Pick Your Champions Prediction Contests for last weekend’s state tournament.  We were very excited about the large number of people who participated both on the Division I and Division II sides.

The winners of both the large and small school contests correctly predicted 11 of the champions.

Josh Lear was the Division II winner and the Division I winner was from Long Island. iTunes cards will be awarded to both.

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A few fun facts about the predictions.  Some champions were well anticipated by those that participated.  The titlewinners that received the highest percentage of the votes were:

Burke Paddock (160, DII) 81%

Corey Rasheed (152, DI) 78%

Nick Kelley (138, DI) 76%

In addition, Tyler Grimaldi (160, DI), Nick Tighe (138, DII) and Zack Zupan (182, DII) all received at least 65% of the vote.

Choi, Photo by BV

On the other hand, several champions were more of a surprise to the contest participants, as the following titlewinners received less than 8% of the votes:

In Division I, Dan Choi (195) and Richard Sisti (220).

In Division II: Kevin Thayer (152), Adis Radoncic (170) and Matt Abbott (285).

Congratulations to all of the New York state champions and thanks so much for playing!