Category Archives: Section 4

Cadet Greco Roman Recap: Jesse Porter Takes Second; James Bethel, Garyn Huntley and Nick Casella Earn All-America Status

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Jesse Porter was an All-American at Fargo a year ago in Greco Roman action when he grabbed fourth at 132.  In 2013, Porter moved up several weight classes and up a few spots higher on the podium as he earned second place at 152 pounds behind Nick Reenan of Texas, the same opponent he faced in the medal round in 2012.

It was a back and forth affair with a number of flurries in the title bout. After the first period, the score was knotted at 3.  Then Porter got off to a good start in the second with a body lock and throw that led to a 6-3 advantage.  However, his opponent responded with a takedown and exposure with just under a minute and a half to go on the path to a 9-6 triumph.

Courtesy of Shenendehowa wrestling website

Porter, a Shenendehowa and Journeymen wrestler, simply dominated in his pool, capturing all seven of his matches by pin or technical fall and giving up just two total points. He will try to pick up even more hardware when the Cadet Freestyle event commences later in the week. (At the New York State championships in Binghamton back in May, Porter cruised to titles in both international styles).

Also high on the podium for the Empire State was James Bethel, who took third.  After dropping his first contest in Fargo to eventual runner up Jordan Wood by one point, Bethel went on a six-match winning streak, including a pin over fifth placer Kyler Childers and a 7-0 technical fall over Shane Coombs in the bronze bout.

Joining Bethel on the medal stand at 220 was Garyn Huntley, who grabbed sixth after picking up four victories at the event.  He notched two pins and two technical falls.

One more All-American was crowned from New York – Nassau County’s Nick Casella at 120 pounds.  Casella began Day 2 the same way he finished the first day of competition – with a victory (over Roshaun Cooley of Pennsylvania).  He concluded pool action with a 6-2 record, earning a spot in medal round against Raul Nevarez of Idaho in the 75-person 120 pound bracket.  The Section 8 wrestler trailed 8-2 in the opening period but took over from there on the way to a 13-8 final and seventh place.

Coming within one win of the podium was Leonard Merkin of Poly Prep, who went 4-1 on the opening day of the event, but lost his first contest on Monday to Conner Noonan of Oregon at 132 pounds.

Updates from the Junior Greco Roman tournament, which began on Monday, will be coming later.

Other Participants from New York in the Cadet Greco Roman tournament were:

88: Drew Schafer, Justin Lopez, Oscar Lainez

106: Sean Miller, John Luke Destefano

113: Taylor Picciano, Evan Barczak

126: Ian Lupole, Christian Briody, Michael Berkowitz

138: Frank Jilling, Zachery Bendick, Sam Ward

145: Kevin Parker, Gino Titone, Jordan Bushey, Logan Brunick

152: John Vouzonis, William Marcil

160: Vance Cuffie, Collin LaBombard, Zafar Iskandarov, Andrew Cummings

170: Jacob Woolson

182: Joseph Sabia, Colby Stayley

195: Aidan Mathews

285: Peter Strassfield

 

Fargo Day 2: Bethel and Huntley Become All-Americans While Casella and Porter Go Undefeated in Cadet Greco Roman Action

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After the first day of Cadet Greco Roman competition, a number of New York wrestlers remain in the mix for spots high on the podium, with two already clinching All-America status – 220 pounders James Bethel and Garyn Huntley.

Both Bethel and Huntley began with defeats against highly touted foes, but responded with dominant showings the remainder of the day to ensure top-6 finishes.

Bethel lost a 6-5 decision to Jordan Wood, Intermat’s #8 sophomore in the country, in his first bout. However, he came back with technical falls over James McWilliams of North Carolina and Adam Treptau of Minnesota before pinning Jacob Spencer of Alabama in less than two minutes.  To finish off the day, Bethel won 7-0 over James Ford of Ohio. He next battles Kyler Childers of Oklahoma.

On the other half of the 220-pound bracket, Huntley faced Intermat’s #1 junior in the nation, Lance Benick, in round one.  After the setback, he bounced back with authority with two pins in less than 35 seconds and a pair of technical falls to secure at least sixth place. He’ll square off with Shane Coombs of Colorado in his first action on Monday.

Photo by BV

Other Empire State wrestlers remain in the hunt, including a pair of grapplers who went unbeaten on Sunday – Locust Valley’s Nick Casella and Shenendehowa’s Jesse Porter.

Both Casella and Porter breezed through the day with five convincing victories.  At 120 pounds, Casella opened with a fall and then registered four straight technical falls by 7-0, 7-0, 8-0 and 11-3 scores. He will look to continue his winning ways tomorrow morning when he faces Roshaun Cooley of Pennsylvania, who is 3-1 thus far.

Meanwhile, Porter picked up a pair of pins and three 8-0 technical falls at 152 pounds. His next challenge will be Maryland’s Christian Almony who sported an unblemished record on Sunday.

Also moving onto Day 2 of the tournament is Poly Prep’s Leonard Merkin, who started strong with an 8-0 tech fall over Conner Wengreen of Utah.  After dropping his next bout to Ben Hornickle of Wisconsin, Merkin bounced back with a pin and two tech falls over foes from Virginia, Illinois and New Jersey at 132 pounds.  Next up: Conner Noonan of Oregon, who was 4-1 on Sunday.

The Cadet Greco Roman tournament concludes on Monday, while Junior Greco begins.  Check back for more updates.

A number of other competitors from New York took the mat on Sunday in the Cadet Greco Roman event.  They are:

88: Drew Schafer, Justin Lopez, Oscar Lainez

106: Sean Miller, John Luke Destefano

113: Taylor Picciano, Evan Barczak

126: Ian Lupole, Christian Briody, Michael Berkowitz

138: Frank Jilling, Zachery Bendick, Sam Ward

145: Kevin Parker, Gino Titone, Jordan Bushey, Logan Brunick

152: John Vouzonis, William Marcil

160: Vance Cuffie, Collin LaBombard, Zafar Iskandarov, Andrew Cummings

170: Jacob Woolson

182: Joseph Sabia, Colby Stayley

195: Aidan Mathews

285: Peter Strassfield

 

Why the International Styles of Wrestling Are So Important (by John Gartiser)

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BY JOHN GARTISER

Over the years I feel it has been harder and harder to get our (I mean “our” in terms of NYS wrestlers, though it could be noted across the nation as well) top end wrestlers competing in Freestyle and Greco Roman.  In my opinion, these two styles, the International Styles, are extremely important for athletes to reach their full potential in the sport of wrestling.  I will cover some of the basic points on why the International Styles are so beneficial to young wrestlers.  My hope is to grab the attention of the local athletes and other NYS wrestlers to increase their knowledge and outlook on Freestyle and Greco Roman participation.  I will list the benefits of these styles below.

1. Exciting style of wrestling

Jordan Burroughs, http://www.phototrens.com

With the new rule changes, more than ever, Freestyle and Greco Roman promote scoring but also make an easier transition for an American Folkstyle wrestler.  What is the most exciting point (no pun intended) in a match?  It’s usually when a wrestler is scoring or when there is a long scramble where two wrestlers are trying to score.  That’s what makes the sport exciting!  Excitement is what our sport needs in order to thrive on a grand scale like other major sports.  Freestyle and Greco Roman reward the aggressive wrestler and the competitor who is looking to score points and there are more opportunities to score.   That is a good formula for participant and, maybe more importantly, fan excitement.

2. Sharpens your technique

One of the biggest advantages I see to wrestling Freestyle and Greco Roman is the ability to expose your weaknesses from the neutral position.  I commonly tell my athletes that in Freestyle if you are not scoring there’s a good chance you are being scored on.  Your inability and weaknesses on finishing your shots are demonstrated.  If you are in on a leg attack and don’t finish effectively, your opponent will be in position to score on you and off your attack.

In Freestyle, the wrestler does not need complete control in order to score.  From a defensive position, it is very common to expose an offensive wrestler’s back 90 degrees for a 2 or 3-point move.  Knowing this, you MUST work on your set ups and finishes for all your offensive leg attacks.

In Folkstyle, the ability to get to a single leg attack and grapple to a stalemate does not negatively reinforce a wrestler enough to make him truly focus on a technical deficiency on leg attack finishes. Furthermore, you can actually see wrestlers USE this stalemate position to BURN time off a clock to eke out a close match.  In a Freestyle competition, your ability to “eke” out that victory can become counterproductive very quickly.  A Freestyle mindset emphasizes what makes wrestling exciting, a scoring style of wrestling! This type of attitude should be brought to the mat every time you step out there to practice or compete.

Another aspect of technique to be sharpened through Freestyle and Greco Roman relates to the Par Terre position (wrestling on the mat).  I will use Greco Roman wrestling as an example here.  A lot of the scoring from the top position we see in high school and college wrestling today has roots in the International Styles.   I feel a lot of the tilts that are popular today can be linked to and have correlations to gut wrenches in Freestyle, and more prominently, in Greco Roman wrestling.  Being able to roll across your own back to secure future back points is not always the easiest thing for a new wrestler to comprehend and be able to perform in a match situation.  In Greco Roman, this is one of the main ways you can score points.  You have to conquer this fear and master the positioning of hips and leverage in order to score from the top position.  This in turn (again, no pun intended), gives a wrestler a huge advantage over top competition nationwide.   These moves allow wrestlers to learn how to use proper leverage and momentum in order to expose their opponent.

I think the most common counter argument people pose to the so-called negatives of Freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling technique is seen from the bottom position.  One of the more frequently used bottom techniques in both International Styles is the “big bird” position — in laymen’s terms, flattening your body out and moving your hips so you don’t get turned.  (It’s actually a much more in-depth technique to learn than it sounds).  If a wrestler were to do this in Folkstyle, they would be warned/called for stalling.  But the “big bird” position can help improve a wrestler’s bottom wrestling in Folkstyle because in reality, it teaches wrestlers to adjust based on the momentum and leverage the top wrestler is trying to use to turn them and expose their backs.

Another one of the more important aspects that the International Styles promote is a break from Folkstyle training.  It’s a good pressure release and allows good Folkstyle wrestlers to open up their minds and start to learn and get used to new or different positions.  I’ve seen terrible wrestlers on bottom in Folkstyle actually get better by not constantly practicing it.  Sometimes in order to see the proper gains, your mind needs a break and needs to gear things in a different direction.  Sometimes it actually is better to not beat a dead horse.

3. The Right Mindset

Freestyle and Greco Roman offer our wrestlers an opportunity to participate on the largest stage possible – the world levels.  Only in Freestyle and Greco Roman do we have an opportunity to compete internationally.  Too many of our athletes look at section and state titles as the pinnacle of high school wrestling when, indeed, they should be shooting for much more.

The largest tournament (numbers wise) in the world today, on any level, is the ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet National Championships in Fargo, North Dakota.  The tournament is better known as “Fargo”.  I will touch more on this event in my last point of interest.  Fargo is the #1 recruiting ground for college coaches and it has the nation’s top competitors battle it out over 2 to 3 days of grueling action.  The grind mimics many college tournaments, such as the NCAA Division 1 Championships.

Only the country’s top wrestlers will rise to the occasion and come out on top at Fargo.   It now makes sense why this tournament is a college coach’s ideal setting for finding future champions.  The Freestyle and Greco Roman Nationals seem to be the best indicator of future success for young athletes. Don’t believe me?  Ironically enough, this video was recently posted on Flowresting.com with Zack Esposito (see here).

For the top wrestlers in the United States, national titles are seen as a stepping-stone to compete at the world level.   I’m almost positive if we asked the majority of our wrestlers locally and even nationwide what the FILA Cadet event is, the majority would not know.  (It is a national tournament held to determine who will represent the United States in the FILA Cadet World Championships).

FILA is the worldwide governing body of wrestling. The FILA Cadets saw a 14-year absence but began again in 2011.  Through Freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling, our athletes now have the opportunity to compete for a world title!  I believe the fact that the great majority of young wrestlers don’t know this is a major problem.   I feel it is extremely important for every athlete to shoot for the pinnacle in any sport they participate in, as well as in life.

 

4. The Numbers Don’t Lie

July 13, 2013 — Fargo, ND. This is home of high school wrestling’s equivalent of the Super Bowl.  Nowhere else are you going to have 120+ wrestlers in a single weight class, 3,000 competitors under the same roof (dome is more appropriate here) battling it out for the convenient “Stop Sign”.  According to Flowrestling.com if you look at the Top 5 wrestlers in each weight class nationally (70 wrestlers), 50 are scheduled to compete. If those numbers aren’t staggering enough, let’s say Folkstyle is your favorite style of wrestling.  Let’s say Division 1 All-American and National Champion are the goals you wrote down all those years ago.  Here’s a statistic that will put your odds of achieving that goal much higher: Qualify for Fargo and compete in the ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet National Championships. Why you ask?  Because 83% of all U.S.-born NCAA Division 1 All-Americans from 2006-2013 took the mat in Fargo (68% of them were Freestyle and/or Greco All Americans) and produced 75% of the NCAA National champions.

(Credit Willie Saylor from Flowrestling.com for some of these statistics and figures)

2013 Fargo Preview for New York: Who Will Shine in the Summer's Biggest Tournament?

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The eyes of wrestling fans will turn to Fargo, North Dakota over the next several days as many of the best competitors in the country will take the mat to crown Freestyle and Greco Roman national champions.  Who from the Empire State will shine in the biggest tournament of the summer?  There are always some surprises, but the following is a look at some of those who could make an impact for Team New York. 

Will there be repeat champions?

Alexis Porter

A year ago, New York had over 25 All-Americans at Fargo, with three national championships.  Those titles came from the women’s competition where Shenendehowa’s Alexis Porter took top honors in both the Cadet (143 pounds) and Junior (139 pounds) brackets and Mary Westman collected gold at Junior 159.

Porter, who will represent the USA at the World championships later this summer, will have the chance to add to her trophy collection.  Also looking to be a gold medalist at this event again is Rosemary Flores, a double champion in 2011 who was third a year ago at 130 pounds.

 

Who Will Excel at the Junior Level for New York?

In addition to the strong women’s contingent, the men’s side features a number of wrestlers who have the ability to win it all.  Among them are nationally-ranked grapplers who captured crowns in both Freestyle and Greco at the New York championships in Binghamton back in May.

Photo by BV

Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer (138) is one of them.  The Cheektowoga standout was third in Greco last summer at the Fargodome and after another impressive performance at the Junior Duals in Oklahoma a few weeks ago (9-0 in Freestyle, 6-1 in Greco), he looks poised to challenge for the biggest prize.  Also starring for Team New York in the Sooner State were former Fargo placers Burke Paddock (160) and Reggie Williams (195).  Paddock, who recently committed to the University of Iowa, was a combined 15-1 at the Junior Duals, while Williams, who notched fifth at 215 in Cadet Freestyle two years ago, is ready to get on the medal stand again. (Perhaps also keep an eye out for Roland Zilberman, who went unbeaten at the Junior Duals across both styles at 195 and 220 pounds).

Another one of the Empire State’s top seniors, William Koll of Lansing, was dominant in winning double New York titles for the second consecutive year and after a strong showing at the Western Regional in April and at the Disney Duals, will look to pick up hardware in North Dakota at 126.

Like Koll, Adis Radoncic (170) and Matt Abbott (285) earned New York state folkstyle titles this February in Albany. Both will compete in Fargo, as will a bevy of other placers from the Times Union Center in 2013, including silver medalist Chris Koo and third placers Troy Seymour and Alex Smythe.  Koo, Seymour and Smythe will all wrestle at 160 pounds. Additional high school medalists from 2013 will represent the Empire State, such as Golan Cohen (113), Cheick Ndiaye (120), Freddie Dunau (132), Ryan Snow (132), Konstantin Parfiryev (170), Andrew Psomas (170), Nick Weber (195) and Sam Eagan (220).

Chris Cuccolo of Pine Bush, who was an All-American in 2011 and 2012 at Fargo will see action at 106, while another returning placer, Ben Honis, moves up from the Cadet ranks.  Matthew Morris, who grabbed first place in both styles at the New York championships and wrestled well at the Junior Duals, will be at 120.

 

Who Will Lead the Way in the Cadet Tournaments?

While there were a number of double New York champions in the Junior division, as discussed previously, there were more in the Cadet brackets, with 10 wrestlers grabbing titles in both Freestyle and Greco.

Two of those grapplers – Locust Valley’s Sam Ward (138) and Shenendehowa’s Jesse Porter (152) – placed at the Fargodome in 2012 in Greco Roman action and are threats to repeat as All-Americans.

A host of other Cadets look for breakthrough performances in the next week.  Leonard Merkin of Poly Prep and James Bethel are a strong candidates, as they impressed with undefeated showings at the Cadet Duals in Daytona Beach.  Meanwhile, Empire State champions in both international styles such as Nick Casella (120), Ian Lupole (126), Gino Titone (145), Jacob Woolson (170), Aidan Mathews (195) and Peter Strassfield (285) all look to make their marks.  Also keep an eye on state placer Vinny Vespa of Monroe Woodbury, who will make his Fargo debut at 106.

———————–

It all begins on Saturday afternoon with Women’s Cadet action.

Who will take advantage of the opportunity to face and beat some of the nation’s best over the next week or so at Fargo?  Stay tuned and check back for updates on New York wrestlers throughout the tournament.

(All the above wrestlers were listed as part of Team New York as of Thursday night).

Here’s the list of last year’s (2012) New York All-Americans at Fargo:

Junior Greco

106 Pounds: Kyle Kelly, 7th Place

113 Pounds: Josh Antoine, 8th Place

120 Pounds: Santo Curatolo, 6th Place

132 Pounds: Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer, 3rd Place

152 Pounds: Brendan Goldup, 5th Place

160 Pounds: Connor Sutton, 5th Place

182 Pounds: McZiggy Richards, 4th Place

182 Pounds: Chris Loew, 7th Place

 Junior Freestyle

132 Pounds: Nick Kelley, 4th Place

138 Pounds: Quinton Murphy, 2nd Place

145 Pounds: David Almaviva, 8th Place

152 Pounds: Brian Realbuto, 4th Place

160 Pounds: Dylan Palacio, 4th Place

160 Pounds: Tyler Grimaldi, 6th Place

Cadet Greco

94 Pounds: Chris Cuccolo, 5th

132 Pounds: Jesse Porter, 4th

132 Pounds: Sam Ward, 7th

182 Pounds: Benjamin Honis, 7th

 Cadet Freestyle

138 Pounds: Thomas Dutton, 8th Place

195 Pounds: Chris Tangora, 8th Place

Cadet Women

143 Pounds: Alexis Porter, Champion

143 Pounds: Kennedie Eddings,6th

172 Pounds: Yuneris Diaz, 3rd

Junior Women

112 Pounds: Hanna Grisewood, 2nd Place

130 Pounds: Rosemary Flores, 3rd Place

139 Pounds: Alexis Porter, Champion

159 Pounds: Mary Westman, Champion

172 Pounds: Yuneris Diaz, 5th Place

 

Clint Wattenberg Selected for the Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame

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On September 21, Clint Wattenberg will be one of 12 new members inducted into the Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Wattenberg, a two-time All-American for the Big Red at 184 pounds, owned the second most wins in Big Red history at the time of his graduation. He also was a three-time All-Ivy pick, an EIWA champion and the recipient of the Peter J. Floros Memorial Award, honoring Cornell’s Most Valuable Wrestler.

The California native, who took third at the 2004 Olympic Trials, was an assistant coach on Rob Koll’s staff after completing his collegiate career.  He has remained in Ithaca where he wears many hats, including as Specialty Nutritionist for the Cornell Healthy Eating Program,  Coordinator of Sports Nutrition for Cornell Athletics and President of NYWAY (New York Wrestling Association for Youth). He also has been an integral leader at the Finger Lakes Wrestling Club since its inception.

For the full story from cornellbigred.com, see this link.

Binghamton Recruiting 2013: A Look Back at the Making of the Highly-Ranked Class

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Recruiting for the Class of 2014 has been officially underway for a little over a week.  However, before we completely shift our focus forward, we took a quick look back at the class that Binghamton put together for the fall of 2013.

According to the rankings produced by a number of wrestling publications, Binghamton had the best recruiting class of the Division I programs in New York this year. Flowrestling slotted the Bearcats into the #25 spot nationally while D1 College Wrestling.net, placed the team at #24. (Columbia also made an appearance in Flo’s article, garnering an honorable mention nod).

When looking at the Binghamton class, what immediately stands out is the strong Empire State presence. Among the seven New Yorkers are eight state championships, 21 All-State showings and more than 10 All-American performances. There’s representation from Section 3 with three-time state titlewinner Nick Tighe and two-time champion Zack Zupan as well as a pair of Shenendehowa standouts – 2013 state gold medalist Nick Kelley and third placer David Almaviva. Adding to the mix in the lightweights are two-time state champion Kyle Kelly from nearby Chenango Forks and Nassau County’s Robert Person, with the upperweights adding Bryce Mazurowski, who was the Division II state runner up as a junior and senior at 195. When the “Top Seniors in New York” feature was done prior to the start of the campaign, Zupan, Kelley and Tighe were ranked 1-2-3.

So, how did Binghamton land many of the Empire State’s best and a top 25 class nationally in Matt Dernlan’s first year as head coach? The program’s recruiting coordinator, Jasen Borshoff, provided some insight.

“We sat down and talked about how we wanted to keep the best kids in state and get them to Binghamton,” Borshoff said. “If you look at the results from the last 10 years, you see New York is way up there in All-Americans. We felt that if you can keep the best New York kids here, you can succeed at the national level. That’s not to say we won’t recruit some kids from out of state. We probably will since we’re close to Pennsylvania and Ohio. But we believe we need to keep New York’s best here and we can win with New York wrestlers.”

Borshoff continued by referencing the 30 for 30 ESPN special about the University of Miami football team during their championship years.

“That part of Florida produces all these awesome football players,” he said. “Miami set up a 200 mile radius and said they weren’t going to let those kids go anywhere else. They were determined not to be outrecruited in their area.  That’s the mentality we have here with New York wrestlers. We don’t want to let anyone outrecruit us for the best around here.”

The Bearcats were able to do it by targeting a relatively small set of wrestlers.

“In the past, I probably called over 100 kids in the summer and hadn’t seen many of them wrestle,” he said. “But last year, before the New York State tournament, we were looking at around 16 kids, who we watched wrestle and got to know pretty well. We kept a pretty small focus.”

With that focus, they were able to emphasize the direction that the new staff planned for the Bearcats going forward.

“Most of the guys weren’t really interested in Binghamton at first – they wanted to go out of state or had other schools in mind,” he said. “Coach Dernlan got in front of them at their houses and told them all about the vision and philosophy. Things went from there and they came on board. Hopefully, we can reproduce that success with this year’s class and set ourselves up even more for the next several years here.”

The wrestlers are excited to get started, as all will be spending the summer on campus, getting their feet wet both academically and on the mat.

“We think we have a bunch of tough kids coming in,” Borshoff said in late June. “They’ll all be here in early July. They’ll be taking classes. They’ll be putting in work. We believe some of them will be starters this season. The great thing is, every single one of them asked to come up for the summer. They want to be here, getting started. That’s exactly what we want. We believe we have the best recruiting class in Binghamton wrestling history.”

 

What's the Recruiting Experience Like? A State Champion's Perspective (Part 2)

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Last Monday was July 1, the first day that college coaches can contact members of the Class of 2014. What is it like for high schoolers and their families during the recruiting process?  We asked Harvard-bound Tyler Grimaldi and his father Frank to share their experiences.  

Last week, we posted Part 1 of this article. To read about the beginning of the recruiting process, the craziness of July 1 and the phone and mail contact from schools all over the country, see Part 1 of this article.

The second part of the story begins below:

Narrowing Down the Field

Tyler Grimaldi: As important as wrestling is, school comes first.  Always has. Based on academics, I started to narrow the list down.

Frank Grimaldi: When we saw a lot of Ivies were interested, we put others on the backburner.  All along, we’ve talked about how wrestling is a means to an end. Tyler loves to wrestle; he lives for wrestling. But he knows that success on the mat will help him in life.  He had a very high average; high test scores. But that by itself doesn’t get you into some of the best schools.  We decided that it was time to take some unofficial visits.

So in the summer, it was off to a number of campuses across the Northeast to get a closer look – including Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Hofstra, Penn and Princeton.  He walked around the schools, met the coaches and teams and tried to get a feel for the environment at each place.

Tyler Grimaldi: I didn’t know anything about the college experience or being a college wrestler. I went in with an open mind.  It was such a new world for me. I was looking for a place to grow as an athlete, a student and a person.  I wanted to find the place that would mold me into the person I want to be.

His trip to Harvard was eye opening.  Ironically, Tyler said the Crimson staff didn’t contact him early in the recruiting period, as he said head coach Jay Weiss first reached out in August.

Frank Grimaldi: On the trip to Harvard, we sat down with Coach Weiss and Coaches [JP] O’Connor and [Muzaffar] Abdurakhmanov. We talked for three hours, but not one second was about wrestling.  Before we went on the tour, he reinforced that he doesn’t do negative recruiting; doesn’t talk about other programs.

Grimaldi, Photo by BV

The visits went in both directions, as Grimaldi not only made trips to colleges, but several coaches traveled to his home in Dix Hills.  Frank Grimaldi talked about how great it was to “have these amazing coaches in my kitchen for three or four hours.”

Frank Grimaldi: The unofficial visits absolutely helped narrow it down.  He set up five official visits.  He went to Harvard first and loved it.  Then he went to Princeton next and loved it.  After that, he said he didn’t want to go on any other visits because he wanted to go to one of those places.

Decision Time

Frank Grimaldi: With it down to Harvard and Princeton, I told him I couldn’t give him a hint of what to do.  I didn’t want to push him one way or another and have him regret the decision.  The decision was all his. He couldn’t lose either way. His guidance counselor felt the same way. She asked him, ‘If you could never wrestle another day in your life, where would you rather go to school?’ Three hours later, he told me his decision was made.

Tyler Grimaldi: When I was in sixth grade, I told my parents I wanted to go to Harvard.  Originally, I didn’t think they were interested in me.  But after Fargo [Grimaldi took sixth at 160 in Freestyle], we talked and really hit it off. I still was torn between Harvard and Princeton, though. My relationship with coach Weiss was the deciding factor. I saw him as a second father figure.  He stays in touch with all the people he’s coached and he develops us as wrestlers and people. I had a different kind of connection with Coach Weiss. I feel like he knows what’s best for me.

A week or two after making his choice, Grimaldi got a “likely letter” from Harvard, indicating that his chances of being admitted were high.  In October, he received a call that he had been accepted on what was “one of the coolest nights ever” according to Frank Grimaldi.

The Hardest Part – By Far

Having a final decision meant a lot of good things for Grimaldi and his family.  Contacting all the other coaches who had been recruiting him was not one of them.

Tyler Grimaldi: That was the worst part of the whole process; by far the worst.  It was horrible.  All of those coaches went out of their way for me, came to my house, took a lot of time with me. I felt really bad.  But you know what? Most of the coaches were very cool about it.  They wished me the best and told me the door was always open if something changed.

Any Advice?

Frank Grimaldi:  My advice would be to talk to everybody you can.  Take good notes and understand that it is a business.  You have to understand that you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread when you talk to some coaches, but they’re saying the same things to other people.  They have a numbers game – they have a list of wrestlers they really want, a list that they’ll settle for and a list they’ll take if they have to in order to fill numbers.  You have to figure out where you are in the pecking order.  I was kind of shocked at the response of one of the coaches when Tyler told him his decision. It’s a business, but when it’s the business of your son, you take it personally.  At the end of the day, it’s a great process, a great ride.  There were so many great people and great opportunities that Tyler couldn’t have made a bad decision.

Tyler Grimaldi: One thing I learned is that there’s no opportunity that’s too small.  Keep all of your doors open and don’t close off anything right away. Hear everyone out and listen carefully because you might find a gem in a program you never imagined.

Also, enjoy the opportunities you get from the process.  I loved taking the visits and seeing the schools.  It was amazing to learn more about what it takes to compete on the mat and in the classroom at a high level.  I got to tour parts of the country and see places I’ve never seen.  You’re made to feel really important and that’s a lot of fun. It’s a great experience.

The Road Ahead

Now, the new challenges commence. As Frank Grimaldi said, “All [Tyler] has so far is admission to Harvard, and while that’s great, he knows he’s not guaranteed anything from here.”

Tyler expects to begin as a 157-pounder but may see 165 down the road.  In the classroom, he will likely concentrate in biology or psychology as he hopes to attend medical school in the future.   He experienced quite a bit in past year and will no doubt experience a whole lot more.

“From July through October, it was a whirlwind of calls, mail, visits and discussions,” Frank Grimaldi said. “It was quite a ride. In the end, I’m the happiest person in the world with the way it worked out.”

Cornell Starts Off Recruiting Period Strong With Commitments from Joe Galasso (PA) and Andrew Garcia (MI)

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The recruiting season started off with a bang for Cornell, as the Big Red secured verbal commitments from two highly-ranked wrestlers earlier this week, Joey Galasso and Andrew Garcia.

Galasso, a 2013 Pennsylvania state champion from Father Judge High, projects at 141 or 149 pounds.  Both FloWrestling and Intermat have him ranked as one of the top 20 recruits nationally – at #14 and #17, respectively.  In addition to taking first place in PA this March, he was fifth as a sophomore at the same event and fourth at the National Prep championships as a freshman.  He also has excelled in other events, grabbing third at the Powerade, eighth at the Super 32 and a runner up showing at FloNationals in 2012.  Flo currently has him pegged as the #4 grappler in the country at 145 pounds.

Garcia, a two-time Michigan state champion from Detroit Catholic Central, is also a highly-regarded prospect, ranked as the #72 recruit in the nation according to Flo and #73 by Intermat.  Before taking the Michigan crown at 171 pounds the past two seasons, he was a runner up at 152 as a ninth grader. He also has starred in offseason events, placing in both Freestyle and Greco at Fargo and winning the USA Wrestling folkstyle national championship in 2011.  Garcia, Flo’s #6 170-pounder in the latest rankings, will likely take the mat at 174 pounds for the Big Red.

 

Disney Duals Recap: New York Kong Captures Second at the Prestigious Event With an Impressive 10-1 Record

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40 teams began the competition in the All-Star bracket at the AAU National Duals (Disney Duals) in Orlando on Saturday.

When the competition ended at the prestigious event on Tuesday evening, New York Kong captured second place after compiling a 10-1 record with victories over squads from places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida and South Dakota.

“It was just a great tournament,” said John Passaro, who made the trip and whose son Travis competed at 120 pounds. “The facilities were great, the experience was great. Taking second shows the direction New York wrestling is going. The team had some amazing wins.”

Indeed, after capturing eighth at this event in 2012, the group made it all the way to the finals, shown live on ESPN3.com. To get to that championship bout, the squad picked up a meaningful semifinal victory over Diesel, a Pennsylvania team that defeated the New Yorkers a year ago at this tournament.

“We wrestled lights out overall and especially in the semifinals against Diesel,” said Steve Hromada, who coached the team along with Anthony Ciolino. “Everyone was amped up and excited for that one, especially since they beat us pretty badly last year.  Getting payback was nice, but it wasn’t just that match.  The kids came together more and more as time went on – the more matches we wrestled, the hungrier and better they looked.”

That semifinal win was a hard fought one, with a 30-12 final score. The Ohio Hawks also provided a challenge in a 30-18 contest in the quarters.

However, the outcome in most of the earlier meets was never in doubt. In fact, the team won at least 12 of the 14 matches in each of the first seven duals, including shutouts.  The dominance wasn’t surprising considering the team featured state finalists at 10 weights and every spot in the lineup was filled by a top five NYS finisher (see roster below).

The first place tilt was a different story, however as the powerful Young Guns squad from the Keystone State came out on top convincingly.

“You never know how good you can be until you see a certain level,” Hromada said. “It was a humbling experience. We have very accomplished wrestlers who were fantastic, but the finals showed that you can always get better. Our state champs want to be more than that – they want to be national champs too.”

One national champion, Spencer Lee of Young Guns (ranked #2 in the country by FloWrestling at 106), began with a major decision for the Pennsylvania squad in the championship dual.

However, Ward Melville’s Nick Piccininni, who was a perfect 11-0 at Disney, responded with a decision over another highly-regarded foe, Luke Pletcher, at 113. (Pletcher sits fourth in the national rankings).

At that point, Young Guns led 4-3 on the scoreboard, but they took over from there, collecting several bonus point wins.

Gaining bonus points of his own was Hofstra-bound Mike Hughes of Smithtown West who ended the dual with a 9-1 major decision over Luke Fleck at heavyweight to complete an undefeated tournament. In addition to Piccininni and Hughes, 152-pounder Joe Mastro, who will attend North Carolina State, also notched an unblemished 11-0 mark on the trip.

“[Piccininni] is a true warrior and he has the attitude and tools needed to be an elite wrestler. It showed when he beat the competition he faced,” Hromada said. “Having Hughes as the anchor of your team is the best feeling. You know that you’re always in a good position at the end of the match and that you’ll end on a positive note. And Joe Mastro is a diamond in the rough. He has great technical skills, endurance and toughness.”

In addition to the unbeaten wrestlers, a number of others picked up “silver status” at the event with a single loss. According to Hromada, those included Eastport South Manor’s Travis Passaro (120), Columbia-bound Matt Leshinger (132) and future Binghamton Bearcat Nick Kelley (138). Despite an injury, Minisink Valley graduate Josh Bonneau (220) also racked up wins.

While the squad was looking for one more victory, the journey was seen as an undeniable success.

“We took out some great teams,” Hromada said. “We showcased ourselves and it was an eye-opening experience for some people. We had a bunch of people walk up and say they didn’t know New York could be that tough. It was a nice feeling.”

Leading the charge were coaches Ciolino and Hromada, who put together the very formidable crew to represent the Empire State.

“Anthony Ciolino and Steve Hromada assembled a great team,” John Passaro said. “There is so much that goes into assembling a team of accomplished wrestlers like this. There were no egos — all the kids, who are competitors with each other back home, were teammates this week. It’s very hard to coordinate schedules, meals and travel for 17 wrestlers and also wrestle at such a high level. The coaches did a wonderful job.”

The same could be said for the New York Kong wrestlers. They went from eighth in 2012 to second in 2013 at the Disney Duals. And they’ll be back for more in 2014.

“We’re working to perfect the system,” Hromada said. “We learned from last year and did things better this year and we’ll be even better prepared for next time. It was an absolute pleasure to be able to coach the elite athletes in New York this week and we’ll up the ante and go back looking to win it all next year.”

New York Kong – 2nd Place Disney Duals

106 Kyle Quinn, Wantagh (2013 State Champion)

106 Jesse Dellavecchia, East Islip (2013 State 4th)

113 Nick Piccininni, Ward Melville (2013 State Champion)

120 Travis Passaro, Eastport South Manor (2013 State 3rd)

126 Alex Delacruz, Ossining (2013 State Champion)

132 Matt Leshinger, Sayville (2013 State Champion)

138 Nick Kelley, Shenendehowa (2013 State Champion)

145 Brandon Lapi, Amsterdam (2013 State 2nd)

145 Frank Garcia, Norwich (2013 State 2nd)

145 Jakob Restrepo, Sachem East

152 Joe Mastro,Yorktown (2013 State 3rd)

160 Steven Schneider, MacArthur (2013 State 2nd)

170 Carlos Toribio, Brentwood (2013 State Champion)

182 James Corbett, Wantagh (2013 State 2nd)

195 Nick Weber, Kings Park (2013 State 5th)

220 Josh Bonneau, Minisink Valley (2013 State 4th)

285 Mike Hughes, Smithtown West (2013 State Champion)

VIDEO: Vote Kyle Dake for the ESPY Award for Best Male College Athlete

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It isn’t often that a wrestler is nominated for an ESPY Award.  Cornell’s Kyle Dake is one of four candidates for Best Male College Athlete.

Voting is at this link.

The following is a great highlight video by Riccio Productions to get out the vote for Dake: