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"Best We've Wrestled Here" Lands Princeton Top-4 Finish At Keystone Open
November 21, 2011 | Wrestling
COMPLETE BRACKETS l TEAM SCORES
"It was pretty much the best we've wrestled since I've been here."
Those were the words of wrestling head coach Chris Ayres following Sunday's Keystone Open in Philadelphia, where Princeton placed fourth as a team and earned six individual placewinners. The Tigers had the best finish of any Ivy program, including Penn, and it improved on its placewinner total from the previous season.
This is the second straight weekend that Princeton has made a big jump in placewinners. Last weekend, six Princeton wrestles placed at the Binghamton Open; one year earlier, only three Tigers placed.
Yes, progress may not have come as quickly as Ayres wished, but there is no questioning that progress has been made. And he expects even more as the season progresses.
"I just thought we did a great job overall," Ayres said after Princeton missed out on third place by a mere 2.5 points. "This was a really good day for our program."
Both co-captains Garrett Frey (125) and Daniel Kolodzik (157) reached their individual finals before losing to nationally ranked opponents. Frey scored a technical fall and two decisions before falling 8-3 to #15 Levi Mele of Northwestern. Mele hit a five-point move in the match, and that would be too much for Frey to overcome. The Tiger junior did avenge his Friday night loss to Rider's Chuck Zeisloft with an 8-6 semifinal win.
Kolodzik was dominant on his path to the finals. The third seed coming in, he scored a fall and a technical fall to reach the semifinal against second-seeded Giuseppi Lanzi of Brown. One week earlier, Lanzi caught and pinned Kolodzik; on Sunday, the Princeton senior controlled the match and took an 11-3 major decision. He gave a battle to No. 7 Walter Peppelman of Harvard, but the top seed scored the key takedown and won a 4-0 decision.
Joining those two on the podium were junior Andy Lowy (fifth, 174), sophomores Adam Krop (third, 141) and Dan Santoro (fourth, 174), and freshman Chris Perez (fifth, 133).
Krop had his second straight impressive weekend. The fourth seed, Krop scored a pin before earning a 3-1 decision over Northwestern's Colin Shober. He fell 10-4 to #9 Matt Mariacher of American, but he won twice in the consolation round to place third. He topped second-seeded Mike Kessler of Appalachian State to finish his day.
"Krop was so good today," Ayres said. "He lost to a Top-10 opponent in the semis, but all of his other matches were really impressive."
Ayres was just as pleased with Santoro, who struggled last weekend at the Binghamton Open and did not place. On Sunday, he scored a 6-5 win over third-seeded Erich Smith of Penn to reach the semifinals, and he added a consolation win over fourth-seeded Tom Barreiro of American to assure himself a top-four finish.
"Last week, we saw the Dan Santoro of last year," Ayres said. "I told him afterwards that the Dan Santoro of last year is gone for good. We saw the new Dan Santoro today, and I couldn't be more pleased."
Andy Lowy was Princeton's lone placewinner to come into the event unseeded. But a first-period pin and a wild 10-9 win helped assure him a deeper start in the consolation round, and he took advantage. His biggest victory was an 11-1 win over fourth-seeded Carter Downs of Appalachian State, and he defeated Brown's Ricky McDonald to take fifth.
Perez, who placed at the Binghamton Open in his collegiate debut, defeated fifth-seeded Vinny Fava of Rider 3-2 to reach the semifinal round. Nationally ranked Bryan Ortenzio knocked him into the consolation round, and he ultimately beat Fava 10-2 to earn fifth place.
Those placewinners weren't the only Tiger wrestlers who performed well. Other highlights included a three-match consolation run by 141-pound sophomore Robert Shepherd, who ultimately saw his day end in an overtime loss one match short of clinching a top-six finish.
149-pound sophomore Zach Bintliff, a placewinner last weekend, caught both the No. 1 and No. 5 seeds early enough in the draw to miss the podium, but he won twice on the day.
All results can be found in the brackets above.
Northwestern ended the day with 140 points, while Appalachian State took second with 97. Rider edged Princeton with 92.5 points, while Princeton scored 90.5 to top both Harvard (90) and Penn (84.5).
Princeton is off this week and will host Binghamton (1 pm) and Old Dominion (4 pm) in Dillon Gym on Saturday, Dec. 3.