10/26/11
Army Line-up Determined by Annual Scrimmage
Courtesy of Army Athletics
According to the annual tradition, the Army wrestlers have determined their line-up in the preseason scrimmage known as the Gold-Black match. Divided into two teams of corresponding colors, the Knights wrestled off for a starting spot in each weight-class. The results were as follows:
A piece of papyrus has been found in the archives of Columbia University. The artifact describes various wrestling techniques and might have belonged to an ancient coach. Historians and archeologists estimate that it originated between 100 and 200 A.D. On October 20, Columbia hosted a conference, attended by such wresling legends as Bruce Baumgartner and Dan Gable, during which the papyrus was presented to the public. Experts assume that the artifact was found in the late 19th century in Cairo, Egypt.
Adam Hall (left) and David Obiesie (right) Courtesy of Columbia and NYU Athletics
The two NYC-based college wrestling programs both acquired new coaches in the past two weeks.
Columbia's Head Coach Carl Fronhofer will now be assisted by a former NCAA All-American and Pac 10 champion Adam Hall. Hall, who wrestled for Boise State, amassed a career record of 122-18 while maintaining a very high GPA, which, according to Fronhofer, will enable him " to coach Ivy League student-athletes."
David Obiesie, a City College of New York graduate, will work with the upper weights of the team at Greenwich Village. Obiesie wrestled for current NYU Head Coach, Bruce Haberli, during his one year attendance at Manhattan College. He also coached Fordham Preparatory School, which won CHSAAs in 2005 and placed second in 2006 and 2007. Haberli said that Obiesie was "a talented and committed Division I wrestler who was always looking to learn and improve."
We wish good luck to both NYS teams in the upcoming season.
Our website's Schedules page now includes almost all schools' 2011-2012 wrestling schedules.
8/24/11
Binghamton and Buffalo Hire New Head Assistant Coaches
Following the resignation of Dennis Papadatos, who served as the Bearcats Head Assistant Coach for the past five years, Pat Popolizio hired Frank Beasley as Papadatos' replacement. Beasley is well-known for his recruiting for the University of Buffalo. During his stay with the Bulls, the team sent 14 players to the NCAAs and had four conference winners.
Having parted with Beasley, Buffalo also needed to fill a vacancy, and it did with Matt Lackey. Lackey is a former NCAA champion from 2003 and a two-time Olympic trial qualifier from the University of Illinois. It is these athletic credentials and a long-term friendship with the Bulls' Head Coach, Jim Beichner, which Lackey mentions are key to his career at Buffalo.
6/28/11
Brendan Buckley Leaves Columbia for California Polytechnic State University
Buckley, who coached Columbia University since 2000, announced the change in his coaching denomination on June 21, 2011. Dr. M. Dianne Murphy, Director of the Intercollegiate Athletics and Physical Education at Columbia, described his decision as "difficult." Buckley himself spoke fondly of his experience during the past eleven years, thanked Columbia's alumni for support, and said the program is still "poised for great things."
Under Buckley, the wrestling program at Columbia experienced a period of great successes. From 2000 to present, Columbia produced its first two-time All-American and its first EIWA Champion since 1995, Matt Palmer '07CC. Buckley also coached 46 All-Ivy League wrestlers, including six first-team honorees. In 2011, he also received the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Bob Bubb Coaching Excellence Award.
Columbia's Head Wrestling Coach position becomes vacant and the search to fill it begins immediately.
6/15/11
NYS Wrestler Named to Capital One Academic All-America Team
Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
Lou Ruggirello, Hofstra's graduating 133-pound NCAA qualifier, has been given the Capital One honor by the Academic All-America program. The program includes the sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming and diving, tennis, water polo and wrestling. Ruggirello, who collected the total career record of 131-26, qualified for the highly-selective award with a GPA higher than 3.3 and outstanding citizenship. He is now one of the820 (out of 12,000) scholar-athletes who received this prestigious honor for their performance in the 2010-2011 athletic season. Congratulations to Lou and thank you for making both Hofstra and NYS Wrestling proud.
For more information on Academic All-America, please see here.
6/2/11
Morrisville Removed From the Site; NYS Team Schedules Posted
We announce with dissapointment that SUNY Morrisville's administration removed the wrestling page from its athletics website, which confirms the elimination of the program. Accordingly and with sadness, we have to remove the Morrisville Wrestling page from our website as well.
Although different reasons for the discontinuation have been
stated in the previous newses, the official rationale was that:
- the wrestling team retention rates were too low
- the Athletics department lacked committment to the program
- the number of students participating in HS wrestling has fallen
For comments regarding the issue, see the entry from April 5.
As most schools completed or near the end of their scheduling for the 2011-2012 season, we begin to post each program's schedule on our website.
You can access each school's schedule at its profile page or on the Schedules page.
5/16/11
Buffalo Recruits State Champs and Runner-Ups
Courtesy of Buffalo Athletics
Jim Beichner, Bull head wrestling coach, announced having recruited three outstanding high school wrestlers from across the country. In order to both raise the level of Buffalo Wrestling and add diversity to his team, Beichner aimed for and won over Arik Robinson (112), Justin Lozano (171), and Justin Heiserman (189), the top grapplers from New York, California, and Michigan, respectively. Below are rankings for each.
Robinson Rankings:
Four-time NYS Champion
#5 – 112 pound wrestler in the country by Wrestling USA Magazine
#8 - 112 pound wrestler in the country by intermatwrestle.com
#17 - 112 pound wrestler in the country by theopenmat.com
#92 – Overall recruit in the nation by intermatwrestle.com
Lozano Rankings:
2011 California State Runner-up
#13 – 171 pound wrestler in the country by intermatwrestle.com
#9 – 174 pound prospect in the 2011 class by theopenmat.com
#77 – Overall recruit in the nation by intermatwrestle.com
Top 10 – Wrestling USA Magazine
Top 10 – WIN Magazin
Heiserman Rankings:
Two-time Michigan Champion
#1 – 189 pound wrestler in Division III by Michigan Grappler
#9 – Overall Michigan senior in 2011
#18 – 189 pound wrestler in the country by intermatwrestle.com
Honorable mention at 189 pounds by theopenmat.com
Also recruited by Michigan and Minnesota
Top 20 ranking in WIN Magazine and Wrestling USA Magazine
05/4/11
2011 Beat the Streets Gala Set to Take Place in Times Square
Any fan of wrestling residing in the NYC area or in the vicinity must not miss tomorrow's Beat the Streets Gala. This unprecedented freestyle event is to be held in open air in Times Square and will pit the top U.S. wrestlers against the Russian olympic team. Renown American grapplers such as Henry Cejudo and Jake Varner will compete against the Russians. Below is the full line-up.
USA vs. Russia Freestyle Dual Meet matches
55 kg/121 lbs. – Henry Cejudo (USA) vs. Nariman Israpilov (Russia)
60 kg/132 lbs. – Shawn Bunch (USA) vs. Rasul Murtazaliev (Russia)
66 kg/145.5 lbs. – Brent Metcalf (USA) vs. Magomedmurad Gadzhiev (Russia)
74 kg/163 lbs. – Jordan Burroughs (USA) vs. Aniuar Geduev (Russia)
84 kg/185 lbs. – Jake Herbert (USA) vs. Andrey Valiev (Russia)
96 kg/211.5 lbs. – Jake Varner (USA) vs. Shamil Akhmedov (Russia)
120 kg/264.5 lbs. – Tervel Dlagnev (USA) vs. Barsag Kesaev (Russia)
Click on the picture above to navigate to the event's official website.
04/27/11
NYS Rankings Updated
Please proceed to Rankings in order to view the recently-updated page.
4/25/11
Wrestling Videos Invade YouTube
April saw the emergence of numerous YouTube videos about wrestling, mainly concerning this year's NCAA and conference tournaments. The most noteworthy clips are highlights from Div. I Nationals and the CAA Conference Qualifier as they feature New York State's most renown grapplers. Related videos can be accessed in the right-hand-side column on the YouTube site.
2011 CAA Wrestling Championship
2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships Highlight
4/11/11
Past NYS Tournament Results Updated
Thanks to the cooperation of NYS wrestling coaches, NYS tournament results from the years 2000, 1999, 1998, and 1997 have been retrieved and uploaded. They can be found here.
4/5/11
Efforts Rise to Save Mustang Wrestling
Many members of the New York State wrestling community voice their protest amid the decision made on March 31 by SUNY Morrisville to drop its wrestling program. The opposition grows as, according to the objectants, the university's rationale becomes more obscure. Morrisville relies its argument on the fading interest in the sport of wrestling on both HS and college level, as well as the lack of sponsoring.
Attached to the news is a letter from Mike Howard, the President of NYS Collegiate Wrestling Coaches Association. We invite all to become familiarized with Mr. Howard's arguments in regards to the issue.
Dake, Cornell's 149-pounder, faced Frank Molinaro of Penn State in the final. Before the bout even finished, it was clear that Kyle would be the winner. As reported by Cornell Athletics:
Dake took down Molinaro early in the first and rode him for the rest of the period to rack up 2:33 in riding time. Molinaro was awarded a point with a little under 40 seconds left on the clock for an illegal hold by Dake. Molinaro chose to start the second period down on the mat, a choice which proved to be a mistake after Dake added three back points. Molinaro was unable to escape Dake's clutches. Dake started the third period down and with eight seconds off the clock reversed his opponent. Dake was once again ferocious on top and racked up 6:17 in total riding time to win an 8-1 decision. ( Source )
In addition to Dake, three more Big Red wrestlers won All-America honors. Mack Lewnes suffered a 1-6 loss to Colby Covington (ORST) in the consolation final of 174, thus placing fourth. Also in wrestleback finals, Cam Simaz (197) defeated Trevor Brandvold of Wisconsin 5-2, which ensured his third, while Steve Bosak (184) lost to Grant Gambrall of Iowa 3-6. Finally, Cornell's 133-pounder, Mike Grey, managed to qualify for All-America honors by winning sixth place. Grey lost to Tyler Graff of Wisconsin 2-7 in his last bout.
From Hofstra, Lou Ruggirello won his closely-fought match for seventh place, beating Bernard Futrell (ILL) 9-6. Another Pride grappler, P.J. Gillespie, lost the same type of a consolation 0-3 to Brandon Hatchett of Lehigh. Gillespie therefore finished the tournament eight, pulling off an All-American. ( Source )
Overall, Cornell placed second as a team, scoring 93.5 points and trailing Penn State. Other NYS followed: Hofstra scored 22 points, giving her twenty-sixth place, Buffalo tied Columbia at thirty-ninth with 9 points, Binghamton earned fifty-sixth (3 points), and finally Army got sixty-second place with a single point.
3/14/11
Ten NYS Wrestlers Win Div. III All-America Honors; Marty Nichols of Ithaca Becomes Coach of the Year
2011 Div. III National Champions
Marty Nichols (Courtesy of Ithaca College Athletics)
Six colleges represented New York State at the NCAA Div. III Wrestling Tournament on March 11-12: Ithaca, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, SUNY Cortland, Rochester Institute of Technology, Hunter, and NYU.
From Ithaca, Seth Ecker won the tournament at 133 lbs, Jeremy Stierly placed second at 141, while Blaine Woszczak (149) and David Priest (174) both finished fourth.
Moreover, the NCAA bestowed a national honor on coach Marty Nichols of Ithaca. Below is a short description of Nichols' career quoted from Ithaca College Athletics:
Nichols, who has posted a career record of 165-66-1, guided Ithaca to a 14-2 mark this winter and first place at the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference (ECWC) Championships. A three-time all-American wrestler at Ithaca he was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 1997. Nichols has been named ECWC Coach of the Year five times (including this season) and was the NCAA Rookie Coach of the Year in 1997.
From Marine Academy, #8-ranked Dan Twito won the championship at 157 by defeating #2-ranked Justin Berns of Concordia College-Moorhead. In additon, Vincent Renaut placed seventh at 165, while Judd Connell managed the eighth place at 285.
SUNY Courtland had two place-winners, Dave Colagiovanni (125 lbs, fifth) and Aljamain Sterling (141 lbs, sixth). Both grapplers contributed to their school's finish in the top 15 overall.
Rochester's Mike McInally lost the final match at 133 to a NYS rival from Ithaca, Seth Ecker, thus winning second place and becoming an All-American. The final score of the bout was 6-2.
The Bombers surpassed other NYS teams in performance, placing fourth overall with 72.5 points, trailed by Marine Academy (eighth), SUNY Cortland (fourteenth), and Rochester Institute of Technology (twenty-fourth). The grapplers from Hunter and NYU failed to win All-America honors.
Beside the NYS EIWA grapplers who were given berths, wrestlers from the CAA teams will also participate in the nationals to be held on March 17-19 in Fargo Center.
From Binghamton, the state will be represented by this year's CAA champions: 141-pounder Anwar Goeres, 157-pounder Matt Kaylor, and 165-pounder Justin Lister. Runner-ups Donnie Vinson (149) and Nate Schiedel (184), as well as a Wild Card winner Ryan McGarity (174), will also wrestle for NYS.
Beside Lou Ruggirello (133), Ryan Patrovich (174), P.J. Gillespie (165), Ben Clymer (184), Steve Bonanno (125), and Paul Snyder (285), Hofstra will also delegate its runner-up at the 141 lbs, Vincent Varela, to compete in Fargo. Varela received a Wild Card for his second place at the CAA Qualifier and 20-13 record.
03/07/11
Brackets for NCAA Div. III Championships Available
The brackets for the tournament that is to be held in La Crosse, Wisconsin are available here.
The Big Reds with Mack Lewnes and the Fletcher Trophy in the middle
Courtesy: Cornell Athletics
The Big Reds came off the mat victorious as a team in Lewisburg, PA. Earning 173.5 points, Cornell surpassed the second-place Lehigh by nearly 55 points. Other NYS teams also participated in the qualifier: Columbia took 7th with 63 points, while Army placed 9th with 56 points.
Cornell's Senior Mack Lewnes was given the Fletcher Trophy for earning the most points in his college career in the EIWA. He also won his fourth title at the tournament by defeating Navy's Matt Demichiel 13-3 in the 174 lbs. final.
Another Big Red grappler Frank Perrelli won the championship at 125 by defeating Penn State's Mark Rappo 6-4. Perrelli's first title resulted from his last-second take-down, with 23 seconds left in the match.
Mike Grey won Cornell yet another title. Wrestling at 133, Grey received a forfeit from Lehigh's Frank Cagnina in the final.
After two scoreless periods of his final match with Micah Burak of Penn State, Cam Simaz escaped at the beginning of the third period, earning the single point that decided his victory. Simaz thus became Cornell's fourth and ultimate champ.
In addition, Columbia University represented NYS as well. Her Kevin Lester placed 4th after being pinned by Dominick Russo of Rutgers in the consolation finals. The other Columbia qualifier for Div. I Nationals was Eren Cival, beating Scott Winston of Rutgers 3-2 after a toughly-fought bout.
The third NYS team participating in the tournament was Army. Although he lost the 141 final 4-2 to American's Matt Mariacher, Casey Thome nevertheless advanced to the NCAAs. Other notable Army wrestlers were Casey's brother, Jordan Thome, who placed 4th at 133, as well as David White (125 pounds) and Daniel Young (149), who both placed 6th.
Congratulations to all the NYS place-winners and good luck to those competing in the nationals on March 17-19 in Fargo Center, Philadelphia!
03/04/11
NYS Community Colleges Celebrate All-Americans at the NJCAA 2011 Wrestling Championships
Mike Garofalo
The Nassau wrestling team alone brought back five All-Americans, including one champion, while Niagara County had two place-winners. Alfred State also contributed to the NYS success by crowning one All-American.
At 125, Mike Garofalo of Nassau beat Iowa Central's Josh Heinzer by a 3-2 decision, thus becoming the champion of this weight class.
Other NYS Junior College All-Americans are listed below:
John Miller of Nassau placed 5th at 133
Nassau's Kodie Silvestri got 6th at 141
Tyler Peet of Alfred State College won 6th place at 149
Troy Ireland of Niagara placed 5th at 165, while Lance Wade of Nassau placed 8th
6th place at 174 went to Jules Doliscar of Nassau
Kyle Gibas of Niagara Community College won 6th at the heavy weight class
Congratulations to our All-Americans for well representing our state!
03/02/11
NYS wrestlers qualify for Div. III Nationals
NYS rivals, Seth Ecker (left) and Mike McInally (right), faced each other in the final of the Empire Conference at 133. The 5-3 sudden victory went to Ecker.
With the Metropolitan, Empire and Centennial Conference Qualifiers concluded, twenty-two NYS wrestlers will fill up the brackets of the NCAA Div. III Championships. The tournament will take place on March 11-12, 2011 in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
At the 125 lbs. category, NYS will be represented by Jordan Alfaro (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy), Dave Colagiovanni (SUNY Cortland), and Max Cohen (Ithaca).
Seth Ecker (Ithaca) and Mike McInally (RIT) will compete at 133.
At 141, Aljamain Sterling (SUNY Cortland) and Jeremy Stierly (Ithaca) will wrestle.
Martin Bell (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy) and Blaine Woszczak (Ithaca) made it to Nationals at 149 lbs.
Dan Twito (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy), Derek Brenon (Ithaca), and Troy Sterling (SUNY Cortland) won their right to wrestle at 157. In addition, Eduardo Delgado of Hunter was selected from the Metropolitan Conference to fill one of the vacancies on the list.
Matt Magill (NYU), Vincent Renaut (Merchant Marine Academy), and Nicholas Sanko (Ithaca) are the grapplers to compete at 165 lbs.
David Priest of Ithaca will be the only NY wrestler to represent the state at 174.
Likewise, Scott Lowe (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy) will test his opponents at 184.
Jared Myrhberg is the only NYS Wisconsin-bound 197-pounder.
Matthew Mahon (Ithaca), Corey James (SUNY Cortland), and Judson Connell (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy) are our state representatives at 285 lbs.
Congratulations to all of the above and good luck in La Crosse, Wisconsin!
02/24/11
Hofstra triumphs over Army, 26-10
As previewed before, Hofstra's Pride undertook the Black Knights last Tuesday, February 22. The dual, last one for both teams this season, resulted in a decisive victory for the Pride. Match highlights included Casey Thome's (Army) 4-1 decision over Vicente Varela, marking Thome's 13th-in-a-row victory, as well as Zach Clemente's (Hofstra) beating Daniel Young 6-4 after a closely-fought bout.
Army's Casey Thome
Hofstra's overall dual meet record now stands at 14-4-1, while Army dropped to 7-9.
Hofstra 26, Army 10 125: Steve Bonanno (H) tech. fall Travis Coffey, 18-3 (6:45)
133: Lou Ruggirello (H) tech. fall Jordan Thome, 16-0 (5:00)
141: Casey Thome (A) dec. Vicente Varela, 4-1
149: Zach Clemente (H) dec. Daniel Young, 6-4
157: Jimmy Rafferty (A) dec. Tyler Banks, 6-2
165: Paul Gillespie (H) maj. dec. Jake Vetter, 13-3
174: Collin Wittmeyer (A) maj. dec. Matt Spataro, 11-2
184: Ben Clymer (H) maj. dec. Will Brown, 8-5
197: Matt Loew (H) maj. dec. Daniel Mills, 8-1
285: Paul Snyder (H) dec. Orion Ross, 6-1
02/22/11
Dual meet season ends for most NYS collegiate teams
With nearly every team having concluded its dual meet season, college wrestling programs across NYS are preparing for their respective conference tournaments. Below we summarize the results of each school's last match of the season, as well as preview the last upcoming duals for those teams that are yet to determine their final records.
Courtesy: Army Athletic Communications
The Army Black Knights will face Hofstra's Pride today, February 22 at 7PM in Hempstead, NY. The dual, supposed to have taken place weeks ago, was postponed due to a snowstorm. Both teams have nationally-ranked wrestlers, such as Steve Bonanno (Hofstra, 125 lbs.) and Casey Thome (Army, 141 lbs), and are determined to finish the season with a victory ( Source ).
Binghamton's Bearcats, thanks to their 32-6 victory over East Stroudsburg, completed the season with the highest win percentage in 30 years (16-6, 73%) ( Source ).
On Sunday afternoon, Feb. 20, the Buffalo Bulls beat their Mid American Conference rival Northern Illinois 22-9, thus ending their seaon with the record of 9-8. ( Source ).
Having beaten their Ivy League rival Brown 24-9, the Columbia Lions finish with the team record of 9-6 ( Source ).
Cornell's 40-9 win over Harvard secured the Big Reds' ninth-in-a-row Ivy League title. Its total and final dual record is now 13-1 ( Source ).
Having beaten the Royals of Scranton by a score of 27-15 and fallen to the King's College Monarchs 22-17, Hunter's final record stands at 2-16 ( Source ).
SUNY Ithaca beat its NYS state rival Cortland 21-13 last Wednesday, Feb. 16. The Bombers' ultimate record is now set at 14-2, while Cortland's is 14-5-1 ( Source ).
NYU's Bobcats finished 2-0 on their Family Day, having beaten SUNY Morrisville 31-10 and University of Scranton 39-9. NYU overall finished the season 9-10 ( Source ).
After going 1-1 at the Si Ostrach Tri Meet hosted by Case Western Reserve, the Rochester Institute of Technology Wrestling collects the record of 5 wins and 12 losses ( Source ).
The Jimmies of Jamestown improved to 5-4 in dual meets after defeating Minot State's Beavers 34-9 ( Source ).
As described in the news from 2/15, Oneonta's Red Dragons defeated Morrisville's Mustangs, ending the season 13-6-1, while Oswego dropped to 5-11 after losing to NYU and Ursinus.
Undefeated against its Division III opponents, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy finished the season proud of its 13-2 record ( Source )
