Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Day One
Players Mentioned
Wrestling Trio Will Seek NCAA Berths During Sunday EIWA Competition
March 05, 2011 | Wrestling
Princeton wrestling head coach Chris Ayres thought it was imperative to qualify at least one wrestler to the NCAA Championships, and he was hopeful for more than that. While no Tigers will wrestler for an EIWA title Sunday, three are still in the hunt for a ticket to Philadelphia and the national championships and five are guaranteed to place.
While it was disappointing to not get one championship finalist, the continued progress of the program was evident on Saturday. Six of the ten starters won at least one match, and two were eliminated in the final match of Saturday's consolation competition.
Sophomore Garrett Frey (125) and juniors Tony Comunale (133) and Daniel Kolodzik (157) will return to Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion for the consolation semifinals Sunday at 10 a.m. Each of the three will wrestle twice Sunday; Frey and Kolodzik need one win to reach nationals, while Comunale will need two. Sophomore Zach Bintliff and senior Travis Erdman will be placewinners in the championships, though neither can make NCAAs.
Frey may have fallen short of his second straight EIWA final, but he is still in great position for another trip to the NCAA Championships, held in two weeks at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The third seed, Frey opened with a 10-1 major decision over Bucknell's Derek Reber. He followed that by avenging an earlier loss to Rutgers' Joseph Langel in the quarterfinal. Frey pinned the sixth-seeded Langel with eight seconds remaining in the second period to advance to the semifinal.
He met second-seeded Mark Rappo of Penn in the semifinal, where he hoped to avenge another close loss this season. Frey scored first in the match on an escape with eight seconds remaining in the second period. Rappo escaped midway through the third and scored a takedown of his own to open a 3-1 lead. Frey escaped again to cut the deficit to one point, but Rappo fought off every late takedown attempt to hold on to the 3-2 win.
With five berths to the NCAA Championships coming out of this weight class, Frey will need one more win to punch his ticket to Philadelphia. He will open competition Sunday against fifth-seeded Steven Keith of Harvard; in the regular season, Frey pinned Keith in a hard-fought match. A win would send Frey to both the third-place match and nationals; a loss, however, would leave him in the fifth-place match against the loser of the Aaron Kalil (Navy) vs. David White (Army) showdown.
Comunale was on the verge of reaching nationals during his freshman year, but a late injury knocked him out of contention. A gutsy run during wrestlebacks has him in contention once again. The 133-pound starter opened with a loss by pin to sixth-seeded Jordan Thome of Army in 2:18.
He opened the consolations with a 10-4 win over fifth-seeded Matt Fusco of Rutgers, and followed with a late second-period pin of Shay Warren of Harvard. Warren had the early lead with a first-period takedown, but Comunale evened it with a pair of takedowns and then went to work on the lead. He got Warren down and pinned him with three seconds remaining in the period to stay in the draw.
Unfortunately, with only three berths in this weight class, Comunale still needs two more wins. The first won't be easy, as he faces third-seeded Rollie Peterkin of Penn in the consolation semifinal; Peterkin scored a 10-0 major decision over Comunale in the regular season.
Kolodzik came into the weekend as the sixth seed in a 157-pound weight class loaded with Top 20 wrestlers. Five NCAA bids would be handed out, and each of the five seeded above him were part of that Top 20; thus, Kolodzik knew he'd have to survive and advance long enough before ultimately knocking off one of the top five.
The journey began with an 8-0 major decision over Brown's Patrick Labuz in the first round of the championship draw. He met third-seeded Walter Peppelman, currently ranked sixth in the nation, and dropped a 6-1 decision. Peppelman grabbed the lead with two near fall points in the second period and followed with a third-period takedown to control the match.
Kolodzik stayed alive with two consolation wins, including an 11-0 major decision over Penn's Bradley Wukie. In his final match Saturday, he held off seventh-seeded Bradley Hooks 8-4 in a match that was tied at 2 entering the final period. An escape, a pair of takedowns and a riding time point gave Kolodzik a six-point period and a trip into Sunday's consolation finale.
The challenge is clear now for Kolodzik, who will have two chances to upset one of the big five and advance to his first NCAA championships. He will open the day against fourth-seeded Daryl Cocozzo of Rutgers, who lost to national No. 1 Steve Fittery of American in the semifinal. These two wrestled in December, and Cocozzo scored a 14-2 win.
If Kolodzik avenges that loss, he'll wrestle for third place and be assured a trip to NCAAs. If he loses, he will wrestle the loser of the Peppelman-D.J. Meagher (Cornell) match. Meagher is the fifth seed and scored a first-period pin of Kolodzik in a regular season dual match.
Sophomore 141-pounder Zach Bintliff came within a point of continuing his season, but a tough 4-3 loss to sixth-seeded Hicks Manson of Cornell did him in. The Tiger starter opened with a 13-5 loss to Navy's Dustin Haislip, but he bounced back with a pair of close wins. A first-period takedown of Columbia's Josh Houldsworth was the key to a 3-2 win, and he followed with a four-takedown effort in an 11-7 win over seventh-seeded Grant Overcashier of Brown. Unfortunately, a third-period escape by Manson was the deciding point in the 4-3 loss that ended Bintliff's strong sophomore season. Bintliff will now face Haislip one more time for seventh place.
Sophomore Greg Ott moved into the starting lineup after freshman Brandon Rolnick suffered an injury prior to the Ivy League season, and he made his EIWA debut in the 149-pound draw against eighth-seeded Andrew Lenzi of Penn. Ott fell into the consolation draw with a 9-0 loss, and his season ended via a technical fall by seventh-seeded Daniel Young of Army.
Junior Andy Lowy drew the fourth seed of the 165-pound bracket in Columbia's Eren Civan and was the victim of a pin in 1:44. He followed with a wild consolation match against Brown's Dave Foxen, but ended up on the wrong end of a 12-11 loss.
Freshman 174-pounder Ryan Callahan hadn't wrestled during February because of injury, but he healed in time for his first EIWA competition. He drew fourth-seeded Alex Caruso of Rutgers and was knocked out of the championship draw with an 11-4 loss. He picked up his first postseason win with a 4-1 victory over Brown's Jeffrey Lemmer, but Columbia's Stephen West knocked him out of NCAA contention with a 5-0 win.
Senior captain Travis Erdman saw his dreams of a final chance at NCAAs end Saturday at the hands of two higher-seeded wrestlers in the 184-pound weight class. He opened against top-seeded Robert Hamlin of Lehigh and dropped a 16-6 loss. He bounced back in a big way, scoring a pin over Brown's Ziad Kharbush in 53 seconds, but Columbia's fifth-seeded Nick Mills ended Erdman's collegiate career with a pin in 21 seconds. He will place at EIWAs and will compete against Harvard's Cameron Croy for seventh place.
Freshman Dan Santoro made his EIWA debut against fifth-seeded Jay Hahn of the host Bucknell Bison in the 197-pound draw. Hahn was in control throughout and claimed an 18-3 victory. He followed up against third-seeded Daniel Mitchell of American, an upset victim in the quarterfinals, and was eliminated by a 10-0 loss.
At heavyweight, sophomore Charles Fox opened the championship session against third-seeded Dominick Russo of Rutgers and was pinned in 1:25. It wouldn't get much easier, as he faced fifth-seeded Kyle Cowan of Penn to open the consolation round and suffered a 5-1 loss.