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/

By Betsy Veysman

“There was so much great wrestling, it was non-stop,” said Izaak Olenjik, a youth wrestler from California.  “It was such a great experience.”

Olenjik, who won his 78-83 pound bracket, was one of 200 youth grapplers who were treated to a day full of high level wrestling on January 8 at Newman Arena on the campus of Cornell University.

The action began with the NYWAY Big Red Kickoff, a tournament for wrestlers ranging from 5 to 14 years old.  Competitors included Olenick’s group of more than 20 from the Golden State as well as wrestlers from Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

“We’re really happy we came out here,” said Zander Silva, a Californian who competed in the 67-82 pound class. “The competition has been very good.  It’s great to get tough matches in against guys you don’t usually wrestle.”

Silva, a Reno Worlds placewinner and Southwest Kickoff Classic champ, was one of the many highly acclaimed youth grapplers on the mats.  Looking around the room, a wrestling fan could see YouTube sensation Stevo Poulin showing his array of moves in the 50-53 pound class for 9/10 year olds along with champion Joseph Manno of New Jersey.  Or a fan could witness Michigan star Devin Schroder, a Super 32 and Grappler Fall Classic Middle School champion, in a triple overtime battle with Durbin Lloren, a Reno Worlds title winner from California, among many other bouts filled with future stars.

“The quality of wrestling was definitely high,” said State NYWAY President Clint Wattenberg, adding that he was hoping for a slightly larger turnout. “The representation from different parts of the country was great.  I saw some of the California kids and some of the best kids in New York take some losses.  These are kids who rarely lose.  Exposing our local wrestlers to wrestlers of this caliber is a really big part of our mission at NYWAY.”

NYWAY is just over six months old, according to Wattenberg, and is now over 2240 members strong.  He believes that the tournament showed glimpses of what the organization will be able to provide.

“The event wasn’t as seamless as we would have hoped,” he said. “But we gave people an understanding of what we’re trying to do to support folkstyle development in the state. We also were able to engage representatives from some of the areas in New York we hadn’t reached yet.”

The highlight of the day for many of the Big Red Kickoff participants was watching #4 Cornell defeat #12 Lehigh 24-12 in a clash of the EIWA’s top two teams in between the morning and afternoon sessions of the tournament.

“Having the Cornell dual was important,” Wattenberg said. “There was a high level of energy and I think it got the kids excited.  They saw that they could be in the shoes of the college wrestlers and that the sport can be a part of their lives in the future.”

The enthusiasm was apparent as the Cornell wrestlers signed autographs and posed for pictures with the youth wrestlers, as well as other fans, for nearly an hour after the dual with the Mountain Hawks ended.

“The scrambles the college guys get into are really cool,” Silva said. “The matches are so intense the whole time.  It was great to watch.“

“I thought it was so much fun to watch Cornell because they are my favorite team and it is amazing to watch college wrestlers,” added 10-year old Matthew LaPorte of New York.  “I can learn from how good Steve Bosak was in all positions and from how Kyle Dake wrestled.”

Big Red Kickoff Classic Champions:

5/6 Year Old Division

Ashton Seymour                    37-44

Julien Griffith                         50-55

Nicholas Caiati                       65-72

7/8 Year Old Division

Graham Rowland                  49-53

Alex Ramirez                          58-64

Cooper Kropman                  65-72

Cuinn Burlingham                77-92

Charlie Tibbitts                     93-103

9/10 Year Old Division

Joseph Manno                       50-53

Will Grater                             58-60

Chad Sakamoto                     62-64

Max Kropman                       66-69

Dean Shambo                         70-75

Zachary Williams                   77-79

Benny Baker                          80-84

Nicholas Noel                         84-94

Guillermo Escobedo              99-108

11/12 Year Old Division

Jesse Vasquez                       62-70

Kevin Spann                          70-75

Nate Nordin                           75-78

Izzak Olenjik                          78-83

Ethan Leake                           85-88

Nico Mattia                             93-98

Ryan Reyes                            99-105

Patrick Ramirez                     106-112

Frankie Gissendanner          120-133

Dominic Nassivera                142-148

13/15 Year Old Division

Dane Heberlein                     67-82

Alexander Hrisopoulos         84-90

Kai Kramer                            88-94

Evan Wick                              95-99

Zander Wick                          100-105

Devin Schroder                     105-110

Joel Rees                                 114-121

Jake Ryan                               124-133

Devon Pingel                         138-155

Max Dean                               164-176

By Betsy Veysman

The Binghamton University wrestling team, currently ranked #23 in the NWCA/USA Today Division I Coaches poll, will put its undefeated record on the line this week against top 10 opponents Oklahoma and Cornell in a pair of duals assistant coach Frank Beasley titled “The Clash of the Titans.”

According to head coach Pat Popolizio, the term is appropriate, given the significance for the Bearcats.

“These are by far the two biggest duals for Binghamton since we’ve been a Division I program,” he said. “We’ve wrestled great teams before but we’ve had holes in our lineup in the past.  We know beating those teams is a tall order and everything has to go right, but we believe we have the momentum, mindset and talent.”

The #9 Sooners, led by Binghamton native Mark Cody, are set to take on the Bearcats at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 10 at the West Gym.  The event will feature matchups between top 25 wrestlers at four weights, according to the January 3 Wrestlingreport.com rankings:

• 149 Pounds #6 Donnie Vinson (BU) vs. #10 Nick Lester (OU)
• 157 Pounds #6 Justin Lister (BU) vs. #11 Matt Lester (OU)
• 165 Pounds #23 Matt Kaylor (BU) vs. #14 Bubby Graham (OU)
• 184 Pounds #19 Nate Scheidel (BU) vs. #18 Erich Schmidtke (OU)

“I think there are a lot of matches that can go either way,” Popolizio said.  “We’ve wrestled some of their guys in tournaments and we know there will be a lot of close ones. We’ll need to win those kinds of matches if we’re going to win the dual.”

The heavyweight tilt between Binghamton freshman Nick Gwiazdowski, currently ranked #18, and Sooner Kyle Colling will be one of interest for New York wrestling followers.   According to Popolizio, Colling (Pioneer High) handed Gwiazdowski (Duanesburg) his last loss in high school, a 1-0 defeat in the finals of Eastern States when Gwiazdowski was a junior.

“Nick hasn’t forgotten about that match,” Popolizio said. “He’s quite a competitor and that one stuck with him for a while.  He’s looking forward to the chance to wrestle Colling again.”

On Sunday January 15th, the two highest ranked programs in New York State will do battle as Cornell travels down I-81 to meet the Bearcats in a meet that will be part of a basketball-wrestling combination event called “Ball and Brawl”.

“It will be our first ever dual in the Events Center,” Popolizio said. “We’re excited about basketball and wrestling together. The basketball game will be at 2 and then we’ll put the mat onto the court.  It’s an opportunity for people to watch really high level wrestling, so we’re hoping for a great turnout.”

The match will begin at 5 p.m. at the Events Center and will be carried live on Time Warner Cable.  Admission is free.

Last season when the two teams met in Ithaca, the home team captured a 35-3 victory.  While there were some dominant matches for the Big Red, Popolizio noted that Cornell also won the tight bouts.

“We know we have our work cut out for us because Cornell is tough across the board,” Popolizio said. “We may be favored at only three weights on paper – 149, 165 and heavyweight.  Last year they won the close matches.  They did it again against Lehigh this past weekend.  We know we’ll have to win those close ones to close the gap and be successful.”

Binghamton has been quite successful to this point in the season.  The Bearcats have been a perfect 8-0 in duals and had a fourth place showing at the Reno Tournament of Champions in December.

“We feel that the season is going very well,” Popolizio said. “We set our schedule to be very challenging this year and we feel that our team has responded quite well so far.  When the year started, we wanted to beat teams in the top 25 and become a top 25 team.  We’ve done that.”

Binghamton’s ranked wrestlers, Vinson, Lister, Kaylor, Schiedel and Gwiazdowski, have led the charge.  In addition, the Bearcats have received strong contributions from others, including 197-pounder Cody Reed.

“Coming out of high school, Cody wasn’t really highly recruited for Division I,” Popolizio said. “He placed once at small school states.  But he has done really well and is right on the cusp of being a top 20 kid.”

There are more goals to be achieved, according to Popolizio.  Among them are winning the CAA conference, although that isn’t the focus.

“The end of the year is most important,” he said. “We felt that we focused a little too much on the conference tournament last year and fell short at nationals. There’s no reason this team can’t have three All-Americans and finish in the top 15 at nationals.  We have the capability to do those things as we continue our growth as a program.”

The “Clash of the Titans” is the next big step.

For more information on Binghamton wrestling, see bubearcats.com and http://bearcatwrestling.blogspot.com/

By Betsy Veysman

Wrestling fans will get a unique opportunity to see top-notch talent ranging from elementary school through college on January 8 at Cornell University as both the NYWAY Big Red Kickoff Tournament and a dual meet between two top 15 NCAA programs, Cornell and Lehigh, will take place at Bartels Hall in Newman Arena.

“I’m not sure where else you would get a chance to see future greats and current greats wrestle on the same day at the same place,” said Cornell head coach Rob Koll.  “It’s a great way for people to see great wrestling and it’s also a great way for us to continue to build our Cornell fan base.”

The action will begin at 9 a.m. with Session I of the NYWAY Big Red Kickoff Tournament.  The event will feature star youth grapplers from New York, California, Michigan, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, among others, in five age groups ranging from 6 and under to the highest group, the 13/14-year old bracket.

In order to compete, wrestlers must preregister by January 6 at 5 p.m. at www.nyway.org.  The registration fee includes a ticket to the Big Red-Lehigh dual. All participants must have a paid NYWAY membership.

NYWAY State President Clint Wattenberg is excited about the event, which serves as the official NYWAY kickoff.  The organization has already amassed over 1450 members in just six months of operation.

“It’s going to be amazing,” Wattenberg said. “We will be able to bring a great product to kids from around the state and the country.  It allows the kids to also be involved in an incredible Cornell dual.  It will bring youth and college wrestling together to support both levels of the sport.”

The college competition will begin at 1 p.m., after the first session of the youth tournament has been completed.  The center mat will be set up for the battle between fourth-ranked Cornell and 12th ranked Lehigh.  The East Coast rivals have had close matchups the past two campaigns, while the Big Red has captured the past five EIWA titles, with the Mountain Hawks placing second in two of those years.

Eleven ranked wrestlers will compete, with three bouts pitting nationally ranked grapplers against each other.  At 141, a pair of multi-time New York state champions, #8 Stephen Dutton and #15 Mike Nevinger, will face off.  At 184, two All-Americans, #1 Robert Hamlin and #4 Steve Bosak, will compete and at 197, #1 Cam Simaz will take on #8 Joe Kennedy.  Spectators will also get a chance to watch two 2011 NCAA Champions, 157-pounder Kyle Dake of Cornell and heavyweight Zach Rey of Lehigh. (Intermat rankings as of December 29)

“It’s a great opportunity to see two of the top teams on the East Coast,” Koll said. “With the fans from the youth tournament and the local fans, we expect a sellout. A big turnout would be great, especially with the college students out of town on break.”

As is customary, the Cornell wrestling team will conduct an autograph session following the dual meet, after which the Big Red Kickoff tournament will run to its conclusion. (Session II is slated to start at approximately 4 p.m.).  First through fourth place finishers will earn awards.

“We’re really excited to package great wrestling for fans of the sport,” Koll said. “We are trying to introduce young wrestlers to Cornell wrestling and cultivate future Cornell wrestlers.  Years ago we ran an AAU tournament here and I think even 10 or 15 years later, people came up to me saying that they were there when they were in elementary school and it introduced them to Cornell wrestling.   That’s what we’re hoping for.”

As for NYWAY, Wattenberg is hoping the tournament will allow the organization to continue its growth and its mission of supporting youth folkstyle development.

“We’ve had a great start, especially since we haven’t had a tournament yet, which is what typically drives membership,” he said.  “We’ve had motivated individuals around the state get things off the ground.   We’re pleased about what has happened so far, but we’re missing some downstate representation and are looking to improve that.”

Wattenberg concluded by encouraging anyone with input or interest in getting involved to contact him through the www.nyway.org website or at clintwattenberg@nyway.org.

For more information on the January 8 events, see http://www.nyway.org.