Tag Archives: Bearcats wrestling

Binghamton Bound: Avon's Bryce Mazurowski Adds to the Star Studded Bearcat Recruiting Class

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Bryce Mazurowski, Photo by Boris V

Bryce Mazurowski grew up hearing about the excellence of Nate Schiedel, a star at nearby Caledonia Mumford High School.  He now hopes to take the 197-pound spot in the Binghamton lineup, currently occupied by Schiedel, for years to come.

On Tuesday night, the Avon state runner up gave his verbal pledge to the Bearcats, adding yet another high New York state placer to the first recruiting class under head coach Matt Dernlan.  The CAA school also has commitments from state champions Kyle Kelly, Zack Zupan and Nick Tighe as well as third placers (and All-Americans) Nick Kelley and David Almaviva.

“It’s good to see so much talent going to Binghamton,” Mazurowski said. “I think the team has a very bright future.  I definitely liked the coaching staff a lot.  The philosophy they talk about is perfect for me and the fact that it’s a great school that’s close to home is really important.”

The future business management major, who also considered Boston University, North Carolina State and North Carolina, has been competitive in the upperweights throughout his career in Section 5.  Back in 2010, he was the only freshman in the 189-pound bracket at the state tournament.

“I was kind of like a deer in the headlights that year,” Mazurowski said of his 0-2 showing.  “Being in the huge arena with so many high class wrestlers, I think I was a little nervous.”

He returned as a sophomore at the same weight and improved his performance, coming within one victory of making the podium, with his losses coming to the third and fifth place finishers (Zack Diekel and Kurt Shear, respectively).  That near miss provided a spark.

“I really wanted to place the second year and didn’t quite make it,” he said. “That got me so motivated.  I realized how much I wanted to be on top and how good I wanted to be.  I realized what I had to do to get there. It gave me the drive to work even harder and set everything up for last year.”

In 2011-12, Mazurowski had a stellar campaign at 195 pounds, compiling a 46-2 record with 43 wins by bonus points.  After a close setback to Shenendehowa state champion Tony Lock in December, he reeled off more than 30 consecutive triumphs, including a 4-2 win over the top seed in Albany, before dropping a decision to Diekel (currently at Lehigh), in the New York title bout.

“In my mind, I was going to win the tournament last year,” Mazurowski said. “It was great to get to the finals — it was a great experience.  But I’m definitely glad to have one more year to go at it and get that title.”

While he participated in track in the spring and football this fall, he has continued wrestling throughout.

“I’ve been working on refining my skills and lifting,” he said. “I’ve definitely gotten a lot more aware on the mat and I think I’m finding new ways to score points. I want to thank the Paddock family and Dee Gugel, who I’ve worked out with a lot and I want to thank the coaches at Avon for keeping me on track and giving me all the opportunities I’ve had.  And definitely my parents, who have supported me through everything and have helped me do what I wanted to do to get where I am.”

Where he is now is on the verge of another title run.  Schiedel won his New York state crown in his senior season before embarking upon a successful career in the CAA where he is currently ranked in the top 10 nationally.  Similarly, Mazurowski hopes to stand atop the podium in Albany in his final high school campaign before going to work in the upperweights for the Bearcats.

Binghamton 2012-13 Season Preview With Assistant Coach Jasen Borshoff

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Binghamton had a terrific 2011-12 season, winning 15 dual meets and earning the best NCAA finish in program history (14th).  The Bearcats boasted two All-Americans (Donnie Vinson at 149 and Nick Gwiazdowski at 285) and had three other wrestlers win at least two bouts at nationals.  The team has undergone change over the past several months, as head coach Pat Popolizio and assistant Frank Beasley moved to North Carolina State and Matt Dernlan and Teyon Ware came on board to replace them.  (Gwiazdowski joined the Wolfpack as well).

Assistant coach Jasen Borshoff is back and he spoke to New York Wrestling News about the upcoming season, beginning with a weight-by-weight look at the lineup.

125 Pounds  – Last year’s starter Derek Steeley returns, but he’ll be challenged by two accomplished wrestlers — former 125-pound Junior College national champion Patrick Hunter (who manned the 133 spot for the Bearcats in 2011-12) and Army transfer David White, who placed at the EIWAs in 2011 as a true freshman.

Coach Borshoff:  “We have a three-way race for 125.  Right now, I’m not sure who will win the job.  Steeley is back and White has three years left after coming in from Army.  He beat a handful of Top 25 guys last year before transferring and redshirting.

Pat Hunter may have been the smallest 133 pounder I’ve ever seen in my entire life.   When [Hunter] came in to Binghamton, he had a lot on his plate.  We wanted him to focus on starting a new school, meeting new people and wrestling without having to worry about weight. But he’s really matured a lot in the year he’s been here and he’s ready to be back at 125.”

133 Pounds – Two years ago Dan Riggi filled the 133 slot and after a redshirt campaign, he’ll try to earn the nod again.  But he’ll have competition from another wrestler who took a redshirt last year – Tyler Pendergast.

Coach Borshoff:  “Just like at 125, it’s not clear who will win the spot.  Riggi had a pretty good year last season and he’s a goer who always wrestles hard. Tyler wrestled in the second half of the season and got hurt.  He was a three-time Delaware state champion and a Beast of the East finalist.  So, he has a very good pedigree and has the chance to show it in college.”

141 Pounds:  Joe Bonaldi and Derak Heyman know each other pretty well.  The Empire State natives wrestled in high school and now they will compete for the Binghamton starting job. Another potential contender is junior college national runner up Vinny DiGravio, who transferred in from Mercyhurst Northeast.

Coach Borshoff: “There will be a lot of competition at this weight.  Joe Bonaldi wrestled as a true freshman and I think he faced more ranked opponents than anyone else on the team.  He’s ready for the next step.  Derak was injured last year but he did wrestle at the Penn State Open and placed as a true freshman.  Those two are very close in the room – they really battle it out and make each other better.  It’s possible that Vinny may redshirt.”

149 Pounds – While the first three weights are undecided, 149 isn’t in question.  Donnie Vinson comes off a third place finish at NCAAs in which he won seven matches in a row following a first round loss.  He also captured Most Outstanding Wrestler honors at the CAA tournament and compiled a 40-5 record overall with 28 bonus point wins.  He will be among the favorites to stand on top of the podium at nationals in 2013.

Coach Borshoff:  “Donnie’s the man at 149.  He’s taken ownership of being a team leader, which is great to see.   He’s been working on some little things like head and hand position. He’s so aggressive and explosive that he opens himself up sometimes.  The third place match at NCAAs was a perfect example. He took it to his opponent but made little mistakes at crucial times. Last year, he thought he was good enough to win nationals.  The difference this year is that he knows he’s good enough to win.”

157 Pounds/165 Pounds – Justin Lister and Matt Kaylor were two very successful multi-year starters for the Bearcats in the middleweights.  Three candidates are in the mix to replace them – Joe Chamish, Vinny Grella and Adam Lepkowsky.

Coach Borshoff:  “It will be interesting to see how these weights play out for us.  Joe Chamish spot started for us last year at 157.  Vinny and Adam are both redshirt freshmen.  They’re all young and none have ever been there.  It’s a new frontier for them.  They have to go out and work hard and capitalize on their opportunity to start.”

174 Pounds – Caleb Wallace (11 wins in 2011-12) and John Paris (the 2011 CAA Rookie of the Year) squared off for the spot last season at 174 and they’ll do it again.

Coach Borshoff:  “Last year, the guys were so close and Caleb actually won the wrestleoff.  But it was such a close match and John had such a great season the year before, we were planning to start whoever did better in competition.  Then in his second match of the year, John tore his ACL and was out for the year.  Caleb stepped in and did very well.  He took third in the CAA and showed a lot of improvement. Now, John’s back and healthy and they’ll battle it out.  They’re very different wrestlers.  John’s more explosive from the outside and Caleb likes to roll around. Both wrestle hard and are young and improving.  This is a weight where we’ll be more mature and better than last year.”

184 Pounds – Cody Reed, who has racked up 47 victories while starting at 197 pounds the past two seasons, will move down to 184 for the upcoming campaign.

Coach Borshoff: “Cody Reed was an undersized 197.  He was trying to keep his weight up during the season.  Cody had a great end of the year, upsetting the #4 seed [Maryland’s Christian Boley] at the NCAAs.  It was a huge confidence builder for him.  He saw that he was good enough to compete at the national level and he’s been working on a lot of little things to get better.  I think he’s good enough to be an All-American but that’s up to him.  He’s very strong and explosive for the weight.”

197 Pounds – After three seasons of wrestling well and qualifying for nationals at 184, Nate Schiedel moves up to 197 for his senior campaign.  He sported a 30-10 mark in 2011-12.

Coach Borshoff:  “Nate’s a leader and a captain and guys really respect him.  In hindsight, he was too big for 184 last year.  He’s a house right now.  When [head coach Matt Dernlan] got here, he couldn’t believe Nate made 184.  Honestly, we were contemplating having him go heavyweight.  Last year, he was always in great shape, but you could see him hurting at times.  He sucked it up and won matches because he’s a winner, but it was tough.  He’s had a good career so far where he’s been ranked in the top 10 several times.  At 197, we’re expecting a huge, huge year from him.”

285 Pounds – With the departure of All-American Nick Gwiazdowski to North Carolina State, New York native Tyler Deuel will step into the heavyweight role.

Coach Borshoff: “Tyler spot started last year at 197 but he’s a big-sized heavyweight now, probably around 250.  Starting in May, we put him on a weightlifting program and he’s put on a lot of good weight.  He’s doing pretty well so far; his body is getting used to carrying around the extra weight.  The spotlight will be on him and we’ll see how he handles it.  He’s young and inexperienced, but he’s talented and capable of doing a great job.”

A Few More Things . . .

Tell us a little bit about being part of the new coaching staff.

Coach Borshoff:  “It’s been awesome. We’ve meshed really well.  We have the same philosophies and are focused on working hard but working smart.  We want to make sure guys are enjoying competing.  Sometimes you get to the national tournament and guys are done. They’re sick of the season and the grind.  Our job is to make sure that doesn’t happen and that’s the philosophy and training [Dernlan] brought in.

One thing I thought was cool was to see the guys who competed at the Olympics call [Dernlan] to thank him for helping them reach their goals.  When you see the guys who are competing for World and Olympic titles, you realize there’s another level out there and that winning national titles isn’t the biggest thing.  It takes some pressure off the guys and it lets them see that [Dernlan] has impacted very high level wrestlers.”

What are the team’s goals for this year?

“We were excited about last year, but we’re not satisfied with being 14th in the country.  There were 13 teams ahead of us and every year we want to plug away and get better and better.

We want national champions and All-Americans.  But the goal setting is the job of the guys on the team.  Ultimately, if our goals as coaches are bigger than theirs, it won’t matter. Binghamton is on the map now and I think everyone wants to keep Binghamton moving up the totem pole.”

Who are some of the freshman entering the room this year?

“One of the main reasons Coach Dernlan took the job was that he believes New York State is untapped.  There’s so much talent here.  We believe you can do really big things with New York kids and we brought in a lot of good ones.

Tristan Hamner (Medina) never won a state title and that’s surprising when you see how talented he is. We also have state runner ups Brady Baron (Pittsford) and Dylan Cohen (Williamsville East) as well as Dylan Caruana (Kenmore West), who took fifth.  Nick Mauriello (Hauppauge) was fourth in a tough weight last year and Jack McKeever was third in New England.  All the guys are pretty talented and they’re all good, hard working kids.  They’re real student-athletes who are here to compete in the room but also understand that they need to work hard in school because wrestling doesn’t pay the bills for most people.”

What else should we look for from Binghamton this season?

“We can’t wait for the season to start.  We’re ready to start practice and get the guys in the room.  They worked all summer and we’ll see where we are.  We’re excited for another great year.”

 

Zack Zupan of Canastota Discusses His Commitment to Binghamton and His Drive For Another State (and National) Title

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Photos by Boris Veysman

Zack Zupan celebrated his commitment to Binghamton this weekend by getting some much needed, and rare, time off.

“One of my buddies has a camp up North with a big fishing area,” he said. “We went up there and hung out a little bit.  It’s nice to go away and do some relaxing activities because my schedule has been pretty jam-packed.”

It would be fair to say that Zupan has been busy. Five days a week this summer, he’s been doing speed sessions and weight training for five hours, beginning at 8 o’clock in the morning, under the guidance of Todd Cutrie.  When he’s finished, he heads to work on a nearby farm for several hours before either teaching pee wee wrestling or participating in football practice in the evening.

The work he’s put in has been obvious on the mat throughout his high school career, as he has made his presence felt both in New York and on the national scene.  His accolades include a national title at the NHSCA Freshman tournament in 2010 at 160 pounds and two other All-America finishes at national events.  He also placed at the New York states on three occasions, including a championship at 170 pounds in 2012, which he believes had a lot to do with the training he put in with Cutrie.

While Zupan was happy to get his first New York crown in February, his performance in the title bout against Nick Mitchell of Frewsburg [a 3-2 decision] left him less than totally satisfied.

“I was a little disappointed with my finals match,” Zupan said. “I didn’t wrestle the entire six minutes like I could have. I definitely hesitated on some opportunities and could have scored more points than I did.  I’m looking to put on a better show next year.”

Before he takes the mat for Canastota, however, he has some business to take care of on the gridiron.  He is excited to begin double sessions with the football squad shortly, as he hopes to reach some milestones this fall.  He said if things go as planned, he believes he can break the state record for tackles and go over 5,000 yards rushing in his last days wearing his helmet and shoulder pads.

“I’ve played football for a long time and it’s not easy knowing I won’t be able to play anymore,” he said. “I know it’s hard to get recruited in New York as a 5-10, 200 pounder.  But you have to realize what you were given and commit to the amazing opportunities you have and make the most of them.”

That’s what Zupan plans to do.  He expects to compete at 182 pounds on the mat as a senior, wrestling for his father Nick (also a Section 3 champion), his coach who has taught him so much in the sport.

“My father went about it the right way,” he said. “He didn’t force me to wrestle.  He was busy coaching high school and getting back late on Saturdays from tournaments.  He told me if I really wanted to wrestle, I should set an alarm and wake him up on Sundays.  That way, it was my choice.  I always set the alarm.  We traveled all over the country and he coached me all the way through.”

So, do father and son still go toe-to-toe in the room?

“I wrestled with him a lot when I was younger, but he knows what’s good for him now,” Zack Zupan said. “He knew when the day would come and he retired when he was undefeated against me.”

When he goes off to college, Zupan feels he will be surrounded by familiar instruction.  In fact, similarities between his father’s Canastota staff and the Bearcat coaches contributed heavily to Zupan’s commitment.

“I think the coaching staff at Binghamton has the same philosophy,” Zupan said. “They believe in training smarter, not harder.  I think I’ll have a nice adjustment to college with the staff they have in place.”

Head coach Matt Dernlan took the reins of the program a few months ago and Zupan takes pride in being the first recruit of the Dernlan era.

“It’s absolutely significant to me,” he said. “I feel like I’m going to help start a great thing.  I get to be one of the first stepping stones in where this program wants to go.  The coaches believe there is so much talent in New York and they want to keep the best in state and win national titles that way.  I’m excited to be part of that.”

Zupan added that he chose the Bearcats over schools like Cornell, Virginia, North Carolina State and Lehigh for other reasons as well.

“I took an unofficial visit and liked that it’s not huge,” he said. “I mean, 16,000 people is a lot to me — it’s more people than are in my town.  But it’s on the smaller side for college and I feel like I’ll be taken care of there and I’ll be one of their main guys and I really appreciate that.  I don’t think I’ll be just another piece of meat which sometimes happens in Division I wrestling.”

He also is excited to follow the path of Section 3 alum Justin Lister, an All-American for Binghamton.

“I watched [Lister] a lot growing up,” he said. “He was coming out of high school when I was coming in.  I just liked the way he wrestled.  What I always remembered about him was that he was a really mean kid on the mat.  Off the mat, he was polite and nice.  But when it came to wrestling, he wasn’t shy.  He was a Section 3 All-American and I think it will be cool wrestling at the same school as him.”

But first things first.  Before he tackles the college scene, Zupan has a few more wrestling honors in mind.

“I want to be a dominant state champion and then win FloNationals,” he said. “Then, I can’t wait to go to college.  I’m really looking forward to working toward a national title at Binghamton.”