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By Betsy Veysman

Hofstra, the 24th ranked team in the country in the latest USA Today/Division I Coaches Poll, is off to an 8-0 start, including victories last week over American and CAA squads Old Dominion, George Mason and Boston.  Dating back to last year, the Pride wrestlers have won 13 duals in a row.

This weekend, Hofstra puts that unbeaten streak on the line against two tough foes, Rutgers on the road and Pennsylvania at the Mack Sports Complex.

“We’ll be facing two very good teams,” said head coach Rob Anspach. “We know that in this sport everything is about March.  But you don’t do well in March if you don’t really challenge yourself during the season.  Rutgers had a great year last year with close to 20 dual wins and they have some very good individuals.  Penn has a returning All-American at 141 and a highly ranked 197 in Micah Burak. So we will definitely be challenged.  We need to continue to do the things we’ve been doing like dictating the pace and winning hand fighting battles and if we do, we should be able to come away with two more wins.”

One of the bouts Anspach is looking forward to this weekend is at 165 pounds where senior PJ Gillespie will face ninth ranked Scott Winston of the Scarlet Knights.  Gillespie, a returning All-American from nearby Long Beach High School, sports a 19-5 record and some strong placements in tournaments this year – first at the Binghamton Open, second at the Las Vegas Invitational and fourth at the Southern Scuffle.  Four of his five losses have come in his last 9 matches, however.

“PJ started off the year really well but hit a rough spot at the Scuffle and the Drexel dual,” Anspach said.  “Last weekend I was much happier with his performance.  He even dominated almost the entire match that he lost.  We just want him to use all of his tools. We rely on him to score bonus points in close duals and when he’s offensive minded, he looks great.”

The captain finished on the podium last year at the NCAAs in Philadelphia after entering the tournament unseeded.  Currently ranked #19, he may have to take a similar path this March.

“Wherever he winds up, even if he is unseeded again, PJ is capable of winning those matches at NCAAs.  His road may be a little tougher than we hoped, but he is certainly capable of placing high this year.”

Gillespie is one of the team leaders fueling the Pride this campaign, in addition to junior Steve Bonanno and senior Ben Clymer.

Bonanno has consistently gotten the team off on the right foot.  The Long Island product has gone 20-5 overall, including finishes of third and sixth at the Las Vegas Invitational and the Southern Scuffle, respectively.  In addition, he has racked up an 8-0 record in duals, including six bonus point wins.

“I’ve been really impresssed with Steve,” Anspach said.  “He’s been our most consistent wrestler.   We’ve been able to start at 125 in all but one dual and he gets things going the right way. It’s really nice to start off the dual 4-0 or 5-0.”

Anspach also added that Bonanno is a top student, with a grade point average around 3.8 in International Business.

“You don’t find too many guys like Steve,” he said. “He’s outstanding.  You never worry about him academically or in anything else.  He’s always doing the right things.”

Clymer, a two-time NCAA qualifier, has been competitive throughout his career.   However, the nation’s 11th ranked grappler at 184 pounds has raised his game, according to Anspach, to the tune of a 20-4 record.

“Ben has picked up his point scoring to the level he is capable of,” the coach said.  “He’s very strong and long and hard to score on, but he relied too much on his defense.  He’s had a lot of 2-1, 3-2 matches against good opponents in the past.  Now he’s working really hard on his feet and starting to put some distance between him and the guys he’s wrestling.  He’s also been working hard on top and has been able to ride some of the best in the country.”

Anspach pointed to Clymer’s fourth placing showing at the Southern Scuffle as a turning point.  The Pennsylvania native lost in the first round to Clarence Neely of Missouri, but rebounded to win six straight bouts, including victories over Jon Fausey (who eliminated Clymer from last year’s Scuffle), Luke Rebertus (who knocked Clymer out of the NCAA tournament in 2011) and Neely.

While Bonanno, Gillespie and Clymer have starred, any good dual team needs contributions throughout the lineup, and Hofstra has had solid performances from a number of wrestlers.

133: Lou Ruggirello was a nationally ranked wrestler throughout his four years in Hempstead and his graduation in 2011 left the 133-pound slot vacant.  However, Anspach has been pleased with his replacement.

“133 has been a win and often a pin for us for several years with Lou,” the coach said.  “But Jamie Franco might be the biggest surprise on the team.  He has gone out and done a great job for us.”  The Monroe, New York native is 14-8 in 2011-12.

141: Luke Vaith has been competitive all year (14-7) and is waiting for a breakthrough victory.

“Luke isn’t getting the recognition he deserves,” Anspach said. “He’s very strong and talented.  The problem is that he is losing to very good kids in tight ones.  He was beating [5th ranked] Jake Sueflohn of Nebraska the whole match and gave up a very late takedown.  He just had a good win against Justin LaValle from Old Dominion, who had beaten him at the Scuffle.  I’m hoping he can turn the corner and win some of these close ones.  He definitely belongs at nationals.”

149: Following Vaith in the lineup is 149-pounder Justin Accordino, who has taken a difficult path back onto the mat for the Pride.

“Justin suffered two torn ACLs, in back to back years.  Both times it was in the first half of the season,” Anspach said. “After the first one he put in an intense, long rehab and he was just getting the rust knocked off when it happened again.  You don’t know how a kid will react to that, but Justin rehabbed again and came back stronger.  His body isn’t fully where his mind is yet wrestling wise, but we’re starting to see him getting back to the wrestler he was.  If he can keep it going, he will be good come March.”

285: Anspach also mentioned the efforts of heavyweight Paul Snyder, last season’s CAA champion, who has registered a 14-7 mark.

“Paul has been working hard on his offense and his handfighting.  He’s run into some guys in the conference who weren’t here last year in [19th ranked] Kyle Frey and [12th ranked] Nick Gwiazdowski.  He’ll have to beat them to get back to the national tournament.”

174:  The head coach believes that recent CAA Rookie of the Week Jermaine John has made significant strides since the beginning of the campaign.

“Jermaine is coming along nicely,” he added.  “He had a great match with Te Edwards from ODU last week. [10th ranked Edwards won 7-6].  Jermaine is strong, quick and athletic. He has all the tools; he just needs more confidence. He needs to get that one win that triggers him to the next level.”

The next level is where the new, young coaching staff hopes to get Hofstra as a team.

While Anspach is in his first season as the head coach, he has been around the Hofstra program for most of the past 13 years, first as a student-athlete and then as a member of the staff.   In addition to second-year coach Zach Tanelli, Anspach added a pair of recent All-Americans, Gregor Gillespie and Dan Vallimont, before this campaign began.

“They are all young and bring great enthusiasm,” Anspach said. “We only have 22 guys in the room, so having coaches that wrestle with the guys every day really makes a difference.  They all come from very successful programs and have great minds for wrestling.  I think it’s been a good formula so far.”

Anspach acknowledged that ultimately success is judged in March and he believes he knows what it would look like for the Pride.

“We want to win our conference championship, which we’ve done 10 out of the last 11 years.  Binghamton has a really good team as does Old Dominion, but we feel like we’re the favorites,” he said. “When we get to nationals, we believe we have the potential for a lot of our guys to place.  From my perspective, three or four All-Americans would be a great success.”

*Rankings are from theopenmat.com

By Betsy Veysman

14 pounds may not seem too heavy.  50 feet may not seem too far.  The Paddocks would disagree.

When the winter holiday break ended in January, eighth grader Aaron Paddock returned to Warsaw Middle School with his classmates.

“I was pretty excited to go back,” he said.  “But it was a pretty normal day.”

After the events of the past five months, to the outsider it seems far from normal.  In fact, according to Aaron’s father Brad, one of the doctors at Buffalo Children’s Hospital said she “had never truly witnessed a miracle firsthand” before.

The story began at the end of August.  Members of the Paddock family were cutting down trees in their yard when a branch weighing about 14 pounds fell over 50 feet and hit Aaron in the head, crushing his skull.

After rushing him to the local hospital, he was quickly airlifted to Buffalo where the outlook appeared grim.

“There was a lot of brain swelling,” Brad Paddock said. “We just kept getting more and more bad news over those first few days.  First, they weren’t sure if he would even live.  But if he did, the doctors told us he may never walk again or ever speak again.  He was paralyzed on his left side and they thought that might be permanent too.”

The original plan outlined by the doctors was for Aaron to be in the hospital through November.  They removed part of his skull and inserted it into his stomach so it would regenerate.  At the end of the three months, the plan was to place the skull back into his head and then have him live in a full time rehabilitation facility in Rochester for 60 days to try to help him regain function.

The Paddock family, made up of Brad and his wife Jeanie as well their children Jessica (26), Nikki (24), Paul (23), Luke (22), Ian (21), Joey (18), Burke (16) and Ellen (12), decided that if Aaron was going to call the hospital home for months, he wouldn’t ever be alone.

“My mom and I stayed in the hospital pretty much the whole time,” Ian said. “We took shifts.  I did the nights, my mom did the mornings and everyone else came in at other parts of the day.  There was always someone holding his hand and encouraging him, 24 hours a day.”

For Ian, a scholarship wrestler at Ohio State University, the decision to stay by his brother’s side was an easy one.  The former four-time New York state champion had already decided to redshirt this season as a junior but was planning to go back to Columbus.  However, after the accident, he called Buckeyes head coach Tom Ryan, who immediately suggested that he stay in New York to help Aaron with his recovery.

Despite the original prognosis, Ian recalled some of the hospital milestones that suggested that Aaron was going to overcome the accident.

“The first day of real excitement came about two weeks in,” Ian said. “They had just taken the tube out of his throat and they were trying to wake him up out of the coma. I remember Paul and I were trying to get [Aaron] to follow instructions like ‘move your thumb, move your fingers.’ Pretty soon he did it.  He wasn’t moving for two weeks then there he was, following commands. It was so encouraging.  He was way ahead of where they thought he would be.”

And then there was the first time Aaron spoke.

“After he was out of the coma, I asked one of the nurses when he would be able to talk again,” Brad Paddock said.  “She told me I had to be more patient, it would take at least a month. Ian was in his face that day, talking to him and telling him he could do it.  [Ian] just wouldn’t let him off the hook.  Eight hours later, he looked at Ian and said, ‘Your breath smells.’  It was just unbelievable.”

“We both starting laughing,” Ian added. “It wasn’t the first thing I wanted to hear him say, but it was great for him to be able to talk again.”

34 days after entering the hospital, the day before his 15th birthday, Aaron Paddock was released from the hospital to his home in Warsaw.

“They thought it would take three months for the skull to be ready, but it went much faster,” Brad Paddock said. “The swelling in his head had gone down and the doctors were able to put it back successfully.  They said the recovery process was accelerated beyond what they had seen before.  Since he was already walking and talking, they decided he could skip the rehab facility altogether and just come back home.”

Aaron was supposed to slowly continue his rehabilitation when he returned.  But according to Ian, the first thing Aaron did when he entered the house was sprint up the steps as fast as he could.  Right behind him was Ian, which became a common theme.

Every day in the Paddock household for Ian, Jeanie and Aaron was busy, with both therapy and schoolwork.

“There were a few hours of homework each day,” Ian said. “He had his physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) for a few weeks. We did some light lifts and strength training.  We did other workouts too.”

“Ian went to every therapy session with Aaron and then doubled it and tripled it once they got back home,” Brad added.  “We all worked to stimulate him non-stop, whether it was bean bag toss, darts, Connect Four or checkers.  Ian stayed by his side the whole time and showed him love and support while pushing him hard.   Both he and Aaron used a wrestler’s mentality.”

“I don’t think I would have had the strength to fight through everything without the wrestling mentality,” Aaron agreed.

The Paddock family is full of accomplished grapplers.  Paul, a two-time state champion, competed at Edinboro.  Ian was an NCAA qualifier in both his true freshman and sophomore campaigns at Ohio State. Burke was a 171-pound state runner up as a freshman last year and is nationally ranked.

Aaron, however, had the best seventh grade performance of any of the brothers, going 50-5 according to the NWCA Scorebook and taking sixth at 103 pounds at the state tournament in Albany in 2011.

He has been cleared to participate in some team sports and plans to run track this spring and possibly play soccer in the fall.  Of course, there’s another squad he would like to join as well.

“I’m running two miles everyday and working out also,” Aaron said. “Wrestling is my favorite sport, though, and I really hope I can wrestle again by next year.”

Brad Paddock said that next month they are going to Washington D.C. to get a brain scan and see one of the top doctors in the country for brain injuries.

“We know it’s his desire to get back to wrestling,” he said. “But we can’t let him do it without knowing for sure that it’s not a greater risk for him than anyone else.  He was determined to start wrestling this January but we knew that wasn’t going to happen.  We will make sure we aren’t taking big risks.  The best doctors in the country will tell us what they think.”

In the meantime, Ian feels he has gained a new appreciation for the sport he and his family love. He is coming off a neck injury and is not yet able to fully train and practice.  However, he is working toward rejoining the Buckeyes lineup for the 2012-13 campaign at 133 or 141 pounds.

“[Aaron] might not be able to do something he truly loves ever again,” Ian said.  “It puts it in perspective for me. I have to give all I have for me and for him.  There are no excuses.  If I don’t feel good in practice or workouts, I think of him and how he doesn’t have the chance to wrestle and make myself go harder.”

Ian Paddock’s talent has never been in question.  He handed Cornell’s two-time national champion Kyle Dake his last high school loss, 9-4, in the 2008 130 pound state championship match when both were juniors.   According to Ian, he then beat Dake again a few months later in a freestyle event in Las Vegas.  The difference in college as freshmen, Paddock said, was mental.

“In high school, I never expected to be beaten.  When I came into college, I accepted that some kids could beat me.  I should have had the mindset that I had the ability to be the best and I would have had a better outcome.  It seems that Kyle Dake believed that no one could beat him from the very beginning. That’s one of the reasons for his success.”

Success is something Aaron Paddock has certainly achieved over the past five months.  Despite missing 17 weeks of school, he completely caught up and is doing well academically.  He is beating his father in darts and other family members in other games.  He is, in his own words, “back to my old self.”

While he will not have his hand raised on the mats this season, he will be receiving another honor.  Buffalo Children’s Hospital informed the Paddocks last week that Aaron has been named its Inspirational Patient of the Year.

————————————————–

For an update on the Paddock family from October 2012, see here.

[button link=”http://newyorkwrestlingnews.com/live-chat/” type=”big” color=”green”] Click Here to Live Chat[/button]

Have a question for “Kid Dynamite”?  Curious about what’s happening on the Cornell wrestling team?

Two-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake of the Big Red will join New York Wrestling News for a live chat on Monday, January 23 at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

Dake, currently the #1 ranked 157-pound wrestler in the country, is 22-0 this season with titles at the Body Bar Invitational, Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and the Southern Scuffle.  Even up a weight at 165, he got a clutch pin for the Big Red last week in a close win over Binghamton.

To join the online chat, click here and register.  (It’s free!)

You can also add your email for a reminder here!

“The Kid” is ready for your questions!

By Betsy Veysman

Nick Gwiazdowski picked right up where he left off.  The Binghamton freshman went undefeated as a high senior, winning all of his contested matched by pin.  So it wasn’t too surprising when his first college bout ended in a fall over Adam Barnett of George Mason.  For good measure, Gwiazdowski pinned his next opponent, Princeton’s Charles Fox, in the first round of the Binghamton Open the following day.  The heavyweight then went on to take the tournament title with a 4-0 performance, including, fittingly, a fall in the finals.

“Honestly, we expected success from Nick right away,” said Bearcats head coach Pat Popolizio. “I’ve known him for a long time and knew his personality and attitude. He’s a true competitor who loves the sport and puts the necessary time and hard work into it.”

Gwiazdowski, on the other hand, was a little surprised by the smooth transition.

“Before my first competition, I wasn’t sure what to expect,” he said. “The coaches were pretty confident in what I could do, but I wasn’t as confident.  But then after the Binghamton Open, I felt like it wasn’t such a big jump from high school.  I felt like I could do really well.”

The Duanesburg High product has continued his successful rookie campaign, amassing a 17-4 record, including nine bonus point victories (with six pins).   He upset Mike McClure of Michigan State, who was the fifth seed, in the opening round of the Reno Tournament of Champions and has registered other quality wins over Purdue’s Roger Vukobratovich and Eastern Michigan’s Wes Schroeder.   He also took advantage of the opportunity to avenge his last high school loss by defeating Oklahoma’s Kyle Colling in a January dual meet and he nearly led his team to an upset of Cornell on Sunday when his major decision over the Big Red’s Maciej Jochym tied the dual score.  (Cornell won on criteria).

But the focus for Gwiazdowski, currently ranked 12^th nationally by theopenmat.com, is not on his wins.  Three of his four losses this year have come to All-Americans, Levi Cooper of Arizona State (twice) and Alan Gelogaev of Oklahoma State.  His other setback was against Drexel’s Kyle Frey.  The two-time New York state champion is quick to recall his mistakes in those defeats, including some positioning errors and getting extended on shots. But he believes there is one thing he really needs to do to step up his game as the campaign progresses.

“The biggest thing for me right now is to ignore the name of the other guy and what singlet he’s wearing,” he said.  “It’s just wrestling.  There are no secret moves out there.  I made the mistake of thinking about whether I could beat the guy in front of me in the middle of those matches.  I know I just need to forget about who the opponent is and wrestle my match.“

Popolizio agreed. “Nick wrestled differently against those guys.  He was a little hesitant on his shots.  He gave them too much respect. If he doesn’t question his ability, but just goes out there and is aggressive and puts it on the line, he can make a lot of noise this year.”

Gwiazdowski, who weighs between 235 and 240 pounds, began the season with goals he now thinks were too conservative.  At this stage, he and his coach firmly believe he can be an All-American in St. Louis in March.

“A good thing about Nick is that he soaks everything up, comes back and works on any mistakes he makes,” Popolizio said. “He has a lot of hidden strength.  He’s not the biggest heavyweight, but he has great speed and conditioning.   It’s also very important that he wrestles harder as the match goes along.  All of those things combined make him a real candidate to make the podium.”

Ultimately, Popolizio believes the 2011 Junior Wade Schalles Award Winner as the nation’s best high school pinner can not only make the podium, but stand on top of it as an NCAA champion.  In fact, discussions about a national title factored heavily during the recruiting process.

Gwiazdowski admitted that the proximity to home and his familiarity with the coaching staff played key roles in his decision to join the Bearcats. But there was also something else that drew him to Binghamton.

“We’re looking for our first national champion here,” Popolizio said. “Nick could have gone to almost any program he wanted to, but he was excited about the prospect of being our first national champion.”

“That definitely was important in my decision,” Gwiazdowski agreed, adding he was also looking at Penn State and Lehigh. “Being an All-American or a national champion at a lot of other schools isn’t such a big deal; it’s been done so many times before.  But doing those things here on a team that is doing the right things and moving up the ladder was a really exciting opportunity.”

Gwiazdowski is hoping there’s more excitement to come in March.

By Betsy Veysman

Binghamton came within one second of beating #9 Oklahoma earlier this week when 197-pounder Cody Reed couldn’t quite secure the winning takedown as time expired against Keldrick Hall in a 20-15 dual loss.  The Bearcats came even closer on Sunday night to defeating a highly ranked opponent when they lost a 22-21 decision to #4 Cornell on tiebreakers in a televised meet at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.

When Binghamton heavyweight Nick Gwiazdowski earned a 15-3 major over Big Red senior Maciej Jochym in the final bout of the evening, the dual score stood at 21-21.  The two squads were even on bouts won (5) and total combined falls and technical falls (2), so the deadlock was broken on the third tiebreaker, total match points.  Cornell tallied 80 points to Binghamton’s 71.

“That was more stressful than we hoped,” said Cornell head coach Rob Koll a few hours after the event ended. “We didn’t think we matched up particularly well with them and they’re a good team, so we knew it would be close.”

The squads traded decisions in the first three bouts of the evening, with Frank Perrelli and Mike Nevinger notching seven-point wins for the Big Red and Bearcat Patrick Hunter picking up a 10-7 victory over Cornell freshman Nik Pena at 133.

“We thought we gave up some points at the first few weights that we were counting on,” Koll said. ”We gave away the major at 125 with no time on the clock when they were credited with an escape and then couldn’t quite get the major at 141. Nik got headlocked in his match early on and had a deep hole to climb out of at 133. He gave everything he had to come back but he couldn’t quite pull it off.”

The home team then captured momentum in front of a crowd of over 1,000 with a pair of bonus point wins.  Fourth ranked Donnie Vinson earned a technical fall over Chris Villalonga at 149 before eighth ranked Justin Lister beat Craig Eifert by fall at 157 for a 14-6 Bearcat lead at the intermission.

“Chris gave up the tech at the buzzer.  We can’t give up those types of points,” Koll said. “After that tech and pin, we thought we were in trouble.”

So it was time to turn to two-time national champion Kyle Dake, who sat out of the Big Red’s two victories on Saturday due to an injury.  With his team needing a big victory, he came off the bench at 165 to pin Joe Chamish in the third period to cut the deficit to 14-12.

“We didn’t really want to wrestle Kyle,” Koll said. “But we didn’t want to lose either.”

At 174, in a matchup of two bumped up 165 pounders, Matt Kaylor downed Marshall Peppelman 8-4 to extend the Binghamton lead to 17-12.  With Binghamton favored at heavyweight, the Big Red needed #3 Steve Bosak and #1 Cam Simaz to win with bonus points.

They delivered.  Bosak put four on the board for the Big Red with an 8-0 major decision over Nate Schiedel and Simaz followed with a 22-6 technical fall over Reed to give the visitors a 21-17 advantage.   The Big Red 197 pounder secured back points with just seconds left in the match to turn a four-point technical fall into a five pointer.

“Once we lost at 74, holy cow,” Koll said.  “Now we have to major a very good kid at 184 and get a tech or a pin at 197 to be comfortable.  But our leaders came through for us today.  Frank [Perrelli] gave up a silly escape at the end to take away a major but he wrestled really well otherwise.  Kyle [Dake] and Cam [Simaz] overcame guys who were stalling so badly to not give up backs or a pin.  Steve [Bosak] majored a good wrestler. What our leaders did was enormous.”

“There were also some other things that were positive, like Pena fighting hard off his back for two minutes. Maciej kept us in the dual although, frankly, he caused me a great deal of angst.  I might have been happier if he just stayed on his belly,” Koll continued with a laugh.

The Big Red lineup had a different look this weekend in the three dual wins over Pennsylvania, Princeton and Binghamton.  Koll expects that to change.

“We need to get everyone back to the right weights and we’ll be a much stronger team,” Koll said. “We also will be adding Nick Arujau to the mix soon. We also expect more from some guys who are too talented to lose the way they did.  They’re great kids off the mat, but they need to be a little greater on the mat.”

Meanwhile, despite their first two dual losses of the year in the matches assistant coach Frank Beasley dubbed “The Clash of the Titans”, the Bearcats showed over the past seven days that they are without a doubt on the rise.  After all, the Big Red beat Binghamton 35-3 in Ithaca a year ago.

“They have some real horses on that team,” Koll said. “They have a really nice team that matched up with us today just right.  It seemed like the perfect storm was there for the upset, but we had just enough to win.”

By Betsy Veysman

Some have said that the Eastern States Classic serves as a preview of the New York State Championships.  Certainly, the tournament features some of the Empire State’s best talent.

The numbers speak for themselves. 12 of the top 20 Division I teams in the state will be at the event along with 7 of the top 20 Division II schools.  More than half of the state semifinalists in Albany last year competed in the event.  Twelve defending state champions will wrestle this weekend along with 17 state silver medalists.

“There are so many great wrestlers at Eastern States,” said Binghamton University head coach Pat Popolizio.  “With so many teams competing, when you win you know you’re at a level where you can compete in college.  Our roster at Binghamton is mostly made up of New York wrestlers and most of the recruits we’ve had have won or placed high at Eastern States.”

This year’s 10^th annual edition, which will take place on January 13 and 14 at Sullivan Community College in Loch Sheldrake, New York should again display top-notch wrestling. Over 100 squads will compete, including representatives from Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Virginia.  With 580 wrestlers in the field, the action will begin at 10:40 a.m. on the 13^th and will run through approximately 10 p.m. on Friday night.  Wrestling will resume on Saturday morning around 9:15 with medal round bouts scheduled to commence at 4:15 p.m.

With eight placers, Longwood won the team title by 36 points over runner up Shenendehowa in last year’s event, with Fox Lane, Long Beach and Hauppauge rounding out the top five.  Those teams are all back to contend, along with Intermat’s #42 team, Wantagh, which has eight grapplers seeded in the top 16, including #1 at 99 pounds Jose Rodriguez.  Shenendehowa offers seven seeded wrestlers, including two top seeds, Nick Kelley at 132 and Tony Fusco at 195.

The addition of prep power Wyoming Seminary should have an impact on the team race as well.  The Knights won the Bethlehem Holiday Classic and placed fourth and second, respectively, at the very tough Ironman and Beast of the East tournaments.  The Pennsylvania school has four nationally ranked wrestlers in the starting lineup: Dominick Malone (126), Eric Morris (170), AJ Vizzcarando (220) and Michael Johnson (285).  All four are top seeded this weekend, as is Evan Botwin at 120.  Seminary has 13 participants seeded in the top 16 in all.

“We feel adding Wyoming Seminary is a great plus because we get to see how our New York kids stand up against nationally ranked kids,” said Tournament Director Jeff Cuilty. “It’s a chance for some of the New York wrestlers to prove themselves.”

Five wrestlers who proved themselves last January as 2011 Eastern States individual champions return to defend their crowns:

• Travis Passaro stood on top of the podium at 103 a year ago after edging state runner up Mark Raghunandan of Long Beach as the sixth seed. He will have perhaps an even tougher challenge this season as the 11^th seed at 120 pounds, a weight filled with accomplished grapplers, including Jeff O’Lena of East Rochester, Matt Leshinger of Sayville, TJ Fabian of Shoreham Wading River, Justin Corradino of Warwick Valley, Mark West of Hauppauge (the 2010 Easterns States champion at 96 pounds), and Seminary’s Botwin.

• On the other end of the scale, Kacee Saure of Holley, the 285-pound victor, will be back at the same weight.  His challengers will include two of the Empire State’s top heavyweights, Cole Lampman of Shenendehowa and Ethan Stanley of Saugerties as well the top seed, Wyoming Seminary’s Johnson, currently ranked #16 in the country by Intermat.

• The Realbuto family from Somers boasted a pair of Eastern States trophies a year ago, with Dylan Realbuto the winner at 96 pounds and Brian the champion at 135.  After a state runner up finish as a sophomore, Dylan has moved up to the 113 pound class where some of the top opponents will include Raghunandan, Edgemont’s John Aslanian and Amsterdam’s Brandon Lapi.

• Intermat’s #9 overall recruit Brian Realbuto outpointed Holley’s Quinton Murphy in a high scoring 17-12 bout in last season’s finals in a matchup of state champions.  This time, the Cornell-bound Realbuto will have another Eastern States winner in the bracket – Long Beach’s Dylan Palacio.

• Palacio, who took third in New York in 2011 and is ranked in the Top 20 nationally, defeated Wayne’s Tory Cain 2-1 at 145 in the Eastern States title bout.  Besides the two defending champions, the 152-pound weight has some other firepower, including Seminary’s Cohl Fulk, Westfield’s Beau Donahue, Longwood’s Nick Hall, South Lakes’ Ryan Forrest and Super 32 placer John Keck from Shoreham Wading River.

Murphy became the winningest wrester in New York high school history last weekend when he captured the Niagara Frontier Officials Wrestling Tournament to earn his 276^th career triumph.  He has earned many titles during his career, including three state championships, but has taken third and second the last two years at Eastern States.

The Indiana recruit will look to add another crown to his resume at a loaded 138-pound class which includes another second place finisher from the 2011 Eastern States, John Glenn’s James Dekrone as well as former state placers Malik Rasheed of Longwood, Brendan Goldup of LaSalle and Anthony Finocchiaro of Canastota.  Ty White of Wyoming Seminary will also take the mat at the Paul Gerry Fieldhouse, as will a long list of other top Empire State wrestlers including Shenendehowa’s David Almaviva, Westfield’s Derek Arnold, CBA/Jamesville Dewitt’s Aaron Benedict, Hauppauge’s Sam Schwartzapfel, Wantagh’s Dan McDevitt and Fox Lane’s Tom Grippi.

“138 is definitely a class that jumps out as really strong and deep,” Cuilty said. “There will be some great wrestling there.”

The same can be said of the tournament as a whole.

For a full listing of the seeds for the 2011 Eastern States, please follow the link:

http://sectionixwrestling.com/