New York Kong Earns Spot in the Final Four at Disney Duals After Winning Nine Straight

Posted on by
Reply

 
 
Next stop – semifinals.

Team New York Kong took eighth at the Disney Duals last year, but guaranteed a better finish in 2013 after winning for the ninth consecutive time in Orlando this week to make the tournament’s final four.

Photo by Steve Weber

On Monday, the wrestlers once again put on a convincing show, winning nearly every contested match (the squad forfeited some bouts) in their victories over Brawlers Fire and Michigan Freeze in the last two duals of pool competition, according to John Passaro.

Those triumphs led to an appearance in the championship bracket of 16, where the New Yorkers came out on top against the Wrestling Factory (Ohio) 41-19, the group associated with one of the top high school programs in the country, St. Edward’s. The bout began at 106, where East Islip’s Jesse Dellavecchia trailed 4-2 before earning a momentum-building second period fall.

“The match was much closer than the score indicated,” Passaro said. “[The opening pin] set the tone for the match against a very tough team.”

Shortly afterwards, the Empire State squad took the mat again against another foe from the Buckeye State – the Ohio Hawks.  The team built a lead from the start, capturing the first six contests. Coming out on top were Kyle Quinn (106), Nick Piccininni (113), Travis Passaro (120), Alex Delacruz (126), Matt Leshinger (132) and Nick Kelley (138).

And New York finished the job from there, with heavyweight Mike Hughes solidifying the victory with a pin at 285 to make the final score, 30-18 and set up the semifinal meeting with Diesel (Pennsylvania).

That clash will take place Tuesday morning at 10 a.m.

The team is coached by Anthony Ciolino and Steve Hromada.

A Wrestler's Perspective: Tyler Grimaldi's "Whirlwind" Journey through the Recruiting Process (Part 1)

Posted on by
Reply

 
 
What is it like to be a top wrestler entering his final year of high school?  The recruiting process is “out of a movie” and a “whirlwind”, according to Harvard-bound Tyler Grimaldi, a 2013 state champion from Half Hollow Hills West High School, and his father Frank.  With July 1 marking the beginning of the official recruiting period for the Class of 2014, we asked the Grimaldis to share some insights on what they experienced as Tyler made his college choice.  

This is part 1 of a two-part article.

 The Beginning

The story of the recruitment of Tyler Grimaldi goes back to the summer of 2011, when he competed at the Junior Freestyle National championships in Fargo, North Dakota between his sophomore and junior years.

Grimaldi, Photo by BV

Frank Grimaldi: At Fargo, Tyler was coached by Columbia’s Carl Fronhofer. Tyler decided to take an unofficial visit to Columbia during his junior year and after he finished second in the state that year [2012], Coach Fronhofer talked to [Hills West coach Mike] Patrovich with a lot of interest. I was ecstatic; I thought it was the greatest thing in the world.  I thought Columbia would be a great place for Tyler.  I sat down with a friend and Tyler’s coaches and they were excited too.  They told me it was awesome; amazing.  But they also told me that we should go through the process fully.  They said, ‘Just wait until July. A lot more will show interest then.’”

Grimaldi continued to bolster his resume, earning All-America honors at the NHSCA Junior Nationals in Virginia Beach where he took fourth at 160 pounds in April (2012).  College coaches definitely took notice.

Frank Grimaldi: In Virginia Beach, it was the quarterfinal round and Tyler was about to wrestle. One of Tyler’s buddies was close to the mat and he was telling me that he almost got knocked over by someone trying to get to the match.  It was really cool – because I saw who it was.  It was [an Ivy league assistant coach], who had run almost across the entire convention center to watch Tyler.  It was really cool to watch.”

 July 1, 2012

Many know that July 1 is the big day when the first official calls and visits can occur.  But the Grimaldis admitted that what happened during that 24 hours was beyond their imagination.

Tyler Grimaldi: It was totally different than I expected. I expected a couple of calls.  What happened was straight out of a movie.  You wake up and your phone doesn’t stop ringing. Some were from schools I e-mailed with before [Grimaldi said he e-mailed coaches as a junior to introduce himself to programs he might be interested in], but some were from schools and coaches I never even heard of or schools I had no idea had any interest in me.  I really felt like I was in a movie.

Frank Grimaldi:  It was a Sunday and it started at about 9:30 a.m. By the end of the night, Tyler had received more than 25 phone calls.  It continued on Monday.  It was a dream come true. I couldn’t imagine it. It was everything from DI powers to D3 schools to Junior Colleges. It got really, really crazy.  Tyler talked to everyone and listened to what they had to say. We would sit down after each call and write down what the coach said, maybe do some research on the school.

The phone interactions continued throughout the summer.  NCAA rules stipulate that schools can only call once every seven days and for the most part, that’s exactly what they did.

 And It Continues . . .

Tyler Grimaldi: Most coaches would call every week on the dot – same exact time. I wasn’t used to it – all these people calling and pulling in different directions.  They wanted to know what my thought process was and where I stood. It became stressful at times.

Frank Grimaldi: The first calls came on that first Sunday.  Some continued to call on Sunday and some switched to another day, but it was pretty much every seven days throughout the summer.

It wasn’t just calls, however.  The postal service saw a big increase of activity at the Grimaldi house as well.

Frank Grimaldi: The mailbox filled up almost every day and so did the school mailbox.  It was like Christmas morning, every morning.

Tyler Grimaldi: There was a lot of mail, and to be honest, I read every single recruiting letter. It made me feel really good to have all those schools gunning for me. A lot of it was pretty basic, asking me to fill out questionnaires or information on the school.  Some was more personal.  Cornell’s stood out – they had some funny letters and some hand written, personal ones specific to me.

Frank Grimaldi estimated that around 75 programs contacted his son during the process, with at least 40 of them doing so by phone.

Tyler Grimaldi: It was pretty overwhelming at first. The big thing is that we didn’t close off anything early on.  I wanted to hear what all the options were.

Frank Grimaldi: There were many different opportunities. One school said with the classes he was taking in high school, he could come in as a sophomore [academically] and wrestle four years and get a redshirt year.  That way, he’d graduate in three years and have two years of grad school or med school paid for.  Everybody was offering different things – there were different packages and scholarships. Some of that was incredibly tempting.  In the end, I told Tyler that he needed to figure out what college he wanted to go to; what was right for him, and we’d figure out the next steps from there.

One of those key next steps was narrowing down the field to a handful of schools.  How that occurred and the rest of Tyler Grimaldi’s recruiting story is at Link to Part 2 of the article.

Buffalo Wrestling Announces Assistant Coaches Joining John Stutzman's Staff

Posted on by
2

 
 
Courtesy of buffalobulls.com

BUFFALO, NY – New head wrestling coach John Stutzman announced his coaching staff Monday morning, with the hiring of Quincy Osborn and Bryce Hasseman. Both assistants come to Buffalo with success as both wrestlers and coaches, and each of them has experienced life in the competitive Mid-American Conference.

“We want to be a blue collar team, we’re going to get our guys in great shape and create a style of wrestling that will be fun to watch,” Stutzman said about his hopes for the team under the new coaching staff.

Osborn recently finished his fourth year as an assistant with MAC rival Ohio. Over that time with the Bobcats, he helped to recruit two top 25 ranked recruiting classes and coached up Germane Lindsey to All American status in the 2010 season. His first coaching job came at Augsburg College, where he worked for two years after wrestling at the school for two seasons.

After originally started his collegiate wrestling career at Minnesota before going to Augsburg, Osborn qualified twice for the NCAA Division I tournament while with the Gophers. Wrestling for Augsburg in 2007, he was the Division III National Champion at 141 pounds, also leading the Auggies to the national team title. In that season, he had the most team points, takedowns, and falls.

For the remainder of the article from the University at Buffalo Athletics site, see here.

Team NY Kong Moves to 5-0 at Disney Duals After Three Lopsided Wins on Sunday

Posted on by
3

 
 
On Saturday, Team New York Kong cruised through the competition on the way to two dominant dual victories. On Sunday things were even more lopsided in the squad’s three victories over Doughboy Blue, South Dakota Red and Team Ohio Mafia.  In fact, the Empire State grapplers shut their opponents out in the first two meets and overall captured 40 of the 42 individual matches during the trio of dual wins, according to John Passaro.

Day three of action on Monday will begin bright and early for the New Yorkers, as they start at 8 a.m. against Brawlers Fire. After that, it will be a match with Michigan Freeze in the early afternoon.

And then, the “playoff” portion of the event begins as a national championship team will be crowned. Stay tuned for further updates.

Team New York Kong

106 Kyle Quinn

106 Jesse Dellavecchia

113 Nick Piccininni

120 Travis Passaro

126 Alex Delacruz

132 Matt Leshinger

138 Nick Kelley

145 Brandon Lapi

145 Frank Garcia

145 Jakob Restrepo

152 Joe Mastro

160 Steven Schneider

170 Carlos Toribio

182 James Corbett

195 Nick Weber

220 Josh Bonneau

285 Mike Hughes

NY Unbeaten at Two Dual Events on Sat: Freestyle Team Takes First in Pool at Jr. Nationals; Team Kong Dominates at Disney

Posted on by
Reply

 
 
Team North Dakota Blue seemed to have New York’s number at the Junior National Duals in Oklahoma. The two squads met in the Greco Roman competition on Wednesday and in Freestyle action on Friday and both times, North Dakota came out on top, by 37-32 and 37-31 scores, respectively.

There would be one more chance for the Empire State wrestlers. Both squads went undefeated on the event’s last day, earning spots against each other in the first place match of the Red/Blue Freestyle Pool. It turned out that the third time was a charm.

“We lost to them twice and didn’t want it to happen three times in a row,” said Johnson City’s Reggie Williams, who wrestled at 195 and 220 during the week. “We knew we needed to get it together and we did.”

In an exciting dual New York prevailed 35-34 — and it all came down to the last bout.

The Empire State got off to a strong start, with a technical fall by Roland Zilberman at 220 and a decision by Sam Eagan at 285. After a 10-0 victory by Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer at 138 and a pin by Jake Savoca at 145, New York led by eight points with five matches remaining. But it wasn’t over, as North Dakota went on a run, capturing four straight contests, including two by bonus, to take a 34-30 advantage into the finale at 195 pounds.

That’s when Williams stepped in, needing a technical fall for the tie or a fall for the win. After defeating his opponent Brandon Rodriguez earlier in the event, Williams was confident he would come through.

“I thought we would win the tiebreaker if it came down to that, but I still wanted to be safe and pin him,” Williams said. “I wanted to put the team on my back and came in looking for the pin right away.”

It didn’t take long as he recorded the fall less than a minute and a half into the bout to give New York the one-point triumph.

Rodriguez-Spencer, Photo by BV

Williams frequently got his hand raised in Oklahoma, as he posted an 8-1 record in Freestyle. 160-pounder Burke Paddock did the same (after going undefeated in Greco). Also starring for the team was Rodriguez-Spencer, who won all nine of his Freestyle bouts at 138, including eight by technical fall, after losing just once in Greco.

“Guys like Burke and Renaldo wrestled tough the whole time,” Williams said. “We knew we could count on them to go out there, score points and get us techs and pins when we needed them.”

In addition, 120 was a strong weight, as Matt Morris and Nick Casella teamed up to go 7-2 in that class while Daniel Smith (170) and the previously mentioned Savoca and Eagan all collected five or more wins in Freestyle. In addition, after an unblemished tournament in Greco, Zilberman won all four of his bouts on Friday and Saturday in the upperweights.

Overall, the squad garnered a 6-3 record in Freestyle, with wins over Minnesota Blue, Indiana, Iowa, Florida, Tennessee and the finale against North Dakota.

“I honestly thought we’d do a little better,” Williams said. “But it was a great experience with great bonding time for the team. I think we got a lot out of it to help us get ready to compete for [individual] national titles at Fargo in a few weeks. And we were really happy to end on a good note, winning our last match.”

For full Freestyle results, see Here.

For a recap of the team’s Greco Roman competition, see This link.

For full team roster, see the bottom of this article.

Off to a Great Start at Disney

It wasn’t only an unbeaten day for the Empire State in Oklahoma, as another group of All-Stars – Team New York Kong – racked up a 2-0 mark at the AAU National Duals (aka Disney Duals) in Orlando.

The squad had no mercy on the opposition, winning at least 11 of the 14 bouts in both meets. The first was a 50-9 pasting of Team Kryptonite (Ohio), while the second was a 44-6 decision over New Tampa Wrestling.

Garnering two victories on the day were Nick Piccininni (113), Travis Passaro (120), Alex Delacruz (126), Matt Leshinger (132), Nick Kelley (138), Joe Mastro (152), Nick Weber (195), Josh Bonneau (220) and Mike Hughes (heavyweight). The team will return to the mat for three contests on Sunday.

Team New York Kong

106 Kyle Quinn

106 Jesse Dellavecchia

113 Nick Piccininni

120 Travis Passaro

126 Alex Delacruz

132 Matt Leshinger

138 Nick Kelley

145 Brandon Lapi

145 Frank Garcia

145 Jakob Restrepo

152 Joe Mastro

160 Steven Schneider

170 Carlos Toribio

182 James Corbett

195 Nick Weber

220 Josh Bonneau

285 Mike Hughes

 

Team New York – Junior Freestyle Duals

100: Dom Poggoli

106: Andy Flanagan

113: Alpha Diallo

120: Nick Casella

120: Matt Morris

126: Trey Aslanian

126: Cheick Ndiaye

126/132: Richard Antonacci

132: Freddie Dunau

138: Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer

145: Jake Savoca

152: Nigel Williams

160: Burke Paddock

170: Daniel Smith

182: Isaiah Zimmer

195: Reggie Williams

220: Roland Zilberman

220/285: Sam Eagan

 

College Commitments – What are the Destinations for the Class of 2013 Wrestlers?

Posted on by
1

 
 
On July 1, recruiting season officially begins for the Class of 2014.  With that in mind, we will be bringing some recruiting-related content, including articles from the perspective of college coaches and a New York State champion headed to Division I wrestling this fall.

For now, here’s a list of where New Yorkers are going for the 2013-14 campaign (as well as out of staters who will attend Empire State institutions). These are commitments we have been made aware of, but if you see something that should be added or changed, please contact newyorkwrestlingnews@gmail.com.

 

Alfred

Zack Bacon, Hornell (NY), Football

Kevin Thayer, Unatego (NY)

Air Force

John Diekel, Whitehall (NY)

Conor O’Hara, Sachem East (NY)

Arizona State

James Brundage, Ossining (NY)/Rider

Kyle Colling, Pioneer (NY)/Oklahoma

Army

TJ Brandt, Altoona (PA)

Christian Doyle, McKinney Christian Academy (TX)

Logan Everett, Williamson (PA)

Nick Frank, Urbana (MD)

Ruben Jurado, Concord (NC)

Mason Kumashiro, Los Alamitos (CA)

Lincoln Mallinger, St. Michael-Albertville (MN)

Tristan Manderfield, Foley (MN)

Mark Marchetti, Father Ryan (TN)

Russell Parsons, Blair Academy (NJ)

Trevor Smith, Ripon (CA)

Troy Taylor, Ironwood Ridge (AZ)

Jack Wedholm, Blair Academy (NJ)

Binghamton

David Almaviva, Shenendehowa (NY)

Thierno Diallo, Duval (MD)

Nick Kelley, Shenendehowa (NY)

Kyle Kelly, Chenango Forks (NY)

Bryce Mazurowski, Avon (NY)

Robert Person, Bellmore JFK (NY)

Nick Tighe, Phoenix (NY)

Zack Zupan, Canastota (NY)

Bloomsburg

Kevin Rodriguez, Patchogue Medford (NY)

Brockport

Jeff Bechen, Whitman Hanson (MA)

Peter Ottaviano, Colts Neck (NJ)

Pete Hailer, Milton (MA)

Dillon Stowell, Gouverneur (NY)

Boston

Lewis Yablans, Jericho (NY)

Brown

James Corbett, Wantagh (NY)

Bucknell

Connor Lapresi, Lansing (NY)

Buffalo

James Benjamin, Vestal (NY)

Jake Campana, Southern Regional (NJ)

Roy Daniels, Olentangy Liberty (OH)

Corey Hollister, Perry (NY)

Alex Francik, Vestal (NY)

Nick Flannery, Cleveland State

Carmine Goldsack, Bergen Catholic (NJ)

Anthony Liberatore, Williamsville South (NY)

Brandon Muntz, Falconer (NY)

Rrok Ndokaj, Monsignor Farrell (NY)/Bloomsburg

Tyler Rill, Mount St. Joseph’s (MD)/Bloomsburg

Mike Silvis, Holley (NY)

Andrew (AJ) Voelker, Monroe Woodbury (NY)

Austin Weigel, Onteora (NY)

Clarion

Quinton Murphy, Holley/Indiana (NY)

Tim Schaefer, Warsaw (NY)

Danny Sutherland, Mepham, Nassau CC (NY)

Coast Guard Academy

Dan Fiorvanti, Commack (NY)

Coker

John Florio, Valley Central (NY)

Columbia

Chris Araoz, Wantagh (NY)

Britain Carter, Maple Mountain (UT)

Mike Fetchet, South Fayette (PA)

Troy Hembury, Muncy (PA)

Matt Leshinger, Sayville (NY)

Justin Mann, Ladue (MO)

Vince Pallone, Mendham (NJ)

Andrew Psomas, Monsignor Farrell (NY)

Garrett Ryan, Wyoming Seminary (PA)

Markus Scheidel, St. Edward (OH)

Cornell

Dan Choi, Syosset (NY)

Jake George, Long Branch (NJ)

Griffin Higginbotham, Union Grove (GA)

Dylan Realbuto, Somers (NY)

Jake Taylor, Bald Eagle Area (PA)

Ty Walter, Mifflinburg (PA)

Cortland

Chris Alianakian, Kellenberg (NY)

Colin Barber, Westfield (NJ)

Nick Bellanza, John Glenn (NY)/Jacksonville

Mat Bradice, William Floyd (NY)

Brian Bulger, Westfield (NJ)

Chris Cataldo, MacArthur (NY)

Lucas Ciancamino, Sayville (NY)

Antonio DeLuco, Rome Free Academy (NY)

Brendan Dent, Connetquot (NY)

Matt Dillon, Nanuet (NY)

Troy Feniger, North Rockland (NY)

Jake Green, Chenango Forks (NY)

Casey Lanave, Chenango Forks (NY)

Tyler Lilly, New Rochelle (NY)

Lance Moore, Johnson City/Binghamton (NY)

Jagger Rebozo, Half Hollow Hills West (NY)

Mark West, Hauppauge (NY)

Duke

Alex Tanzman, Westhampton Beach (NY)

East Stroudsburg

Eric Januszkiewicz, New Paltz (NY)

Edinboro

Terrence Cheeks, Newburgh (NY)

Lester Enriquez, Hewlett (NY)

Franklin & Marshall

Tommy Quinlan, Fayetteville-Manlius (NY)

Gannon

Eric Lewandowski, Lancaster (NY)

Harvard

Tyler Grimaldi, Half Hollow Hills West (NY)

Hofstra

Mike Hughes, Smithtown West (NY)

Kyle Krasavage, Wyoming Valley West (PA)

Ithaca

Travis Berube, St. Joseph’s Collegiate (NY)

Jimmy Kaishian, Yorktown (NY)

Steven Sabella, Yorktown (NY)

Joe Sprung, Berne-Knox-Westerlo (NY)

Carlos Toribio, Brentwood (NY)

Lake Erie College

Keanu Thompson, Grand Street (NY)

Lehigh

Drew Longo, Ardsley (NY)

Thomas Murray, Yorktown (NY)

Life University (Georgia)

Rowdy Prior, Phoenix (NY)

Maryland

Chris Reilly, Half Hollow Hills West (NY)

Mercyhurst

Austin Hedges, Letchworth (NY)

Dan Reagan, Lewiston Porter (NY)

Messiah

Lucas Malmberg, Marathon (NY)

Nassau

Josh Bonneau, Minisink Valley (NY)

Gio Santiago, Sachem North (NY)

Vinny Turano, Wantagh (NY)

Nebraska

Anthony Abidin, Nassau CC (NY)

Niagara CCC

Jude Gardner, Fredonia (NY)

North Carolina

Jacob Pincus, Pittsford (NY)

NYU

Roman Accetta, Poly Prep (NY)

John Messinger, Putnam Valley (NY)

Amit Naik, Providence Day (NC)

Nick Matthews, West Morris (NJ)

Joey Rizzolino, Campbell

Ethan Walker, Heritage Hall (OK)

North Carolina State

Shayne Brady, Carthage (NY)

Joe Mastro, Yorktown (NY)

Oklahoma State

Chris Koo, Great Neck South (NY)

Oswego

Simon Greebel, Hewlett (NY)

Taylor Jones, Palmyra Macedon (NY)

Penn

Dan McDevitt, Wantagh (NY)

Jun Yoo, Jericho (NY)

Princeton

Trey Aslanian, Edgemont (NY)

RPI

Steven Mills, Sachem North (NY) – Football

Roger Williams

Tom Carta, South Glens Falls (NY)

Sacred Heart

Nick Allesandrini, St. Anthony’s (NY)

TJ Fabian, Shoreham Wading River (NY)

Tom Filipkowski, Mattituck (NY)

Matt Fisher, Oneida (NY)

Brendan Goldup, LaSalle (NY)

Daniel Hayden, East Islip (NY)

Patrick Henn, Lindenhurst (NY)

Austin Hulse, Stony Brook School (NY)

Nick Lupi, Huntington (NY)

Zak Mullen, Shoreham Wading River (NY)

Alex Swanson, Smithtown West (NY)

Johnny Vrasidas, St. Anthony’s (NY)

Springfield

Corey Ali, Shenendehowa (NY)

Hunter Ayen, Gouverneur (NY)

Zach Joseph, Shenendehowa (NY)

David Varian, Yorktown (NY)

Stanford

Kevin Tynes, Brooklyn Tech (NY)

Virginia

Drew Hull, Royalton Hartland (NY)

Waynesburg

Tim Raner, Mexico (NY)

Wesleyan

Robert Rosenberg, Hewlett (NY)

Western New England

Andrew Cole, Ogdensburg (NY)

Matt Jarvis, Carle Place (NY)

West Virginia

John Pellegrino, Division (Nassau CC) (NY)

Gunnar Van Curen, Portville (NY)

Wheeling Jesuit

Justin Jimenez-Castillo, Irvington (NY)

Wilkes

Pankil Chander, Lawrence (NY)

Paddock, Zilberman Post Undefeated Records For NY at Junior Greco National Duals

Posted on by
Reply

 
 
The Junior Greco Roman National Duals came to an end on Thursday evening with Team New York registering a seventh place finish in the Bronze/Copper pool. The Empire State wrestlers ended the competition on a high note, winning their last meet 40-26 over Pennsylvania.

That final dual started off with a pair of wins from the upperweight duo of Roland Zilberman and Reggie Williams. (The pair shared 195 and 220 pound duties throughout the event and on Thursday combined for a perfect 8-0 record). After the Keystone State group responded with four consecutive victories, New York countered with triumphs in seven of the last nine bouts to come out on top.  Those wins were by: Matt Morris (120), Richard Antonacci (126), Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer (138), Jake Savoca (145), Nigel Williams (152), Burke Paddock (160) and Daniel Smith (170).

Photo by BV

Paddock and Zilberman were a combined 14-0 over the two-day tournament with 12 of those wins coming by technical fall or pin. Rodriguez-Spencer also piled up bonus points, going 6-1 with three techs and two falls. Williams collected five victories while fellow Section 4 grappler Isaiah Zimmer grabbed four wins at 182 pounds. Overall, the New Yorkers went 2-5, topping South Dakota on Wednesday, 40-26.

The team returns to action on Friday as the Freestyle National Duals commence.

For full results, see Here.

Team New York:

106: Andy Flanagan
106: Dominic Poggoli
113: Alpha Diallo
120: Nick Casella
120: Matt Morris
126: Trey Aslanian
126: Cheick Ndiaye
126: Richard Antonacci
132: Freddie Dunau
138: Renaldo Rodriguez-Spencer
145: Jake Savoca
152: Nigel Williams
160: Burke Paddock
170: Daniel Smith
182: Isaiah Zimmer
195/220: Reggie Williams
195/220: Roland Zilberman
285: Sam Eagan

 

Kyle Dake Nominated for Best Male College Athlete ESPY Award – (Link to Vote Included)

Posted on by
Reply

 
 

The recognition continues for Cornell’s four-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake.  Voting opened for ESPN’s ESPY Awards on Thursday and Dake is one of the four nominees for Best Male College Athlete, along with Michigan basketball player Trey Burke, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel and St. Cloud hockey standout Drew LeBlanc.  Both Burke and LeBlanc were finalists for Sports Illustrated’s Male College Athlete of the Year honor, which Dake won in the spring.

To vote for the ESPYs, see ESPY voting link.

 

On Track and Arriving: Stony Brook to Grapple at the Garden

Posted on by
2

 
 
Last week, MSG Sports announced that the second annual Grapple at the Garden will take place on December 1 in New York City. A number of New York teams were mentioned in the press release, including Cornell, Hofstra and Army.

But that’s not all.  Two more squads from the Empire State will take part as Stony Brook will take the mat against Westchester Community College at the World’s Most Famous Arena.  How did the second-year NCWA program from Suffolk County get involved?

“I was there last year and I was thinking, Stony Brook should be here,” said Seawolves head coach Shaun Lally. “I saw the Division I wrestling and the high school wrestling and thought it would be great if every single level of wrestling was showcased.  I happened to call [Cornell coach] Rob Koll about something else and asked him about this year’s Grapple at the Garden. He got me in touch with the organizers and after talking to them, they were sold on the idea.”

So, Stony Brook was in the field, but needed an opponent.  The answer wasn’t too far away.

“For an event in New York City, it made sense to go local,” Lally said. “You can’t get much more local than Westchester.  Some of the guys on the team there are from the Beat the Streets program.  They’re very close to the city. Getting to the city is easy for us too – our kids can get on the train, take it to Penn Station and basically just walk upstairs to wrestle.”

Wrestling at the prestigious arena during a high profile event is something the Stony Brook squad isn’t taking lightly.

“It’s so exciting to be a part of this,” Lally said. “It gives us an instant credibility and brings attention and turns people’s heads.  There’s still that club tag associated with Stony Brook for some people because we’re not Division I. I think participating in this event is another way of showing people that we’re a legitimate program that has shown a lot of growth and progress in a short period of time.”

Courtesy of Stony Brook wrestling

Indeed, it’s only been a little over a year for Lally and Stony Brook as a NCWA program.  In season one, six wrestlers qualified for the Nationals in Texas with two, 197 pounder Michael Lloyd and 235 pounder Kyle Folk-Freund, coming within one victory of All-America status.

“For the kids to just get there was a great experience that validated all the hard work they did,” Lally said. “The team bought into the system right away.  Right before those two matches (in the Round of 12), I said to myself, ‘Win or lose, this has been a complete success.’  The matches didn’t go our way, but now we keep putting the question out there – who will be the first All-American for this program?”

Who will it be?  Lally doesn’t think it will take long to find out as he has a strong group of returners and a set of newcomers he believes will make an impact.

“We have some very good guys back and we have six incoming freshmen from all over the state who, if they buy in like the kids did last year, could walk in right away and have success. I’m excited that we’re bringing in kids from upstate, the City, Nassau and Suffolk. The future is bright.”

According to Lally, that future includes the goal of winning a conference championship in 2013-14 and some interesting opportunities, including a potential exhibition match against the backups from Hofstra and, of course, the appearance at the Garden.

“It’s huge for us to get exposure and compete in that kind of setting,” the coach said.  “We want to show people we’ve arrived as a program.”

For more on Stony Brook wrestling, see here.

Binghamton All-American Justin Lister Honored For Saving Colleague's Life

Posted on by
Reply

 
 
Courtesy of bubearcats.com, Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)

Photo by The Morning Journal (Ohio)

VESTAL, N.Y.—After an accomplished wrestling career that included All-America honors, former Binghamton student-athlete Justin Lister has wasted no time in asserting himself in his professional career. Lister, a first-year state trooper in Ohio, has received a Certificate of Recognition by the Ohio State Highway Patrol for saving the life of a dispatcher.

Lister, 24, who graduated in spring 2012, was honored in a ceremony on Tuesday, five weeks after his quick thinking and action saved the life of dispatcher Chelsea Saylor, 25. On May 12 in Sandusky, Ohio, Saylor was on her lunch break and began choking on her food. Lister noticed and immediately administered the Heimlich maneuver.

For the remainder of the story from the Binghamton Athletics site, see this link.

For the story in “The Morning Journal” (Ohio) newspaper, see here.