Wrestling Heads To Binghamton Quad Saturday

Standing at 2-1 on the season, the wrestling team will look to take yet another stop forward on Saturday when it takes on Binghamton, Liberty and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in a quad meet in Binghamton.

Princeton started its dual season last weekend with wins over both EIWA rival Franklin & Marshall and VMI, while dropping a closer-than-it-appears match to Rutgers. The youth that head coach Chris Ayres has been praising this season has already made strong strides forward; freshman Garrett Frey has a team-best 13 wins at 125 pounds, while sophomore Kurt Brendel is 12-6 at 184. Sophomore Andy Lowy has eight wins at 165; altogether, Princeton started either a freshman or sophomore in eight of 10 matches against Rutgers.

One of those sophomores is Daniel Kolodzik, who earned GoPrincetonTigers.com Athlete of the Week honors after winning all three of his matches last weekend, including a 7-5 thriller over No. 19 Dave Greenwald of Rutgers. Highlights of that match can be seen at the bottom of this story.

The Binghamton Bearcats are 4-2 on the season, which includes a wild 18-16 victory over North Carolina recently. In that match, 197-pound freshman Nate Scheidel recorded a pin of the 11th-ranked Dennis Drury of North Carolina to lead a 12-0 rally in the final three matches to clinch the win. Senior 184-pounder Joshua Patterson is a reigning all-America and a Top 10 wrestler this season, while freshman Donald Vinson has 19 victories already this season.

Liberty is also 4-2 on the season and won the Keystone Classic this season, a tournament that Princeton also competed in and finished seventh. Senior Frank Gayeski leads the Flames with a 9-0 record and won the 149-pound weight class at the Keystone Open; his potential match with Kolodzik could be one of the highlights of the day. Junior Chad Porter (165) is 7-2 on the season and was the top seed at the Keystone before falling in a close final match.

The Merchant Marine Academy, which won a 24-18 thriller over Princeton last season, recently defeated Hunter College 28-12 and has gotten a 9-0 start from sophomore heavyweight Judson Connell, as well as 10 wins from freshman 149-pounder Kevin Hartnett. Sophomore Dan Twito, whose 8-7 victory in the dual match last season helped key the win at Princeton, is 11-1 on the year.

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Kurt Brendel

Garrett Frey

Daniel Kolodzik

Andy Lowy