Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Wrestling Returns Home For Millersville, #5 Cornell During Weekend Pair
January 11, 2012 | Wrestling
The Princeton wrestling team, coming off a 2-1 performance at the Pitt Duals, will compete twice at Dillon Gym this weekend. The Saturday match will be the 2012 Ivy League opener against #5 Cornell, which will send four Top-10 wrestlers to the mat.
Princeton will wrestle Millersville College Friday at 7 p.m., and will host Cornell Saturday at 6 in the Ivy opener. Both matches will be streamed live on GoPrincetonTigers.TV, and the Princeton Wrestling Twitter handle (@TigerWrestling) will provide live updates during the match. While on Twitter, you can follow the official 2012 EIWA Championships Twitter feed here. This will provide news and updates prior to the Mar. 3-4 championships, as well as live results during the competition.
Princeton heads into the weekend with a 4-7 record, though it has won three of its last four matches. Victories over both Davidson and VMI clinched a winning performance at the Pitt Duals last weekend, though the Tigers nearly pulled off a stunner against the 10th-ranked Pitt Panthers. Princeton lost 23-13 in the match, though it held leads at both 125 and 149 and was even with the Panthers with three matches remaining.
Four Princeton wrestlers combined to go 11-0 on the weekend, including a 3-0 performance by sophomore Adam Krop, the 18th-ranked 141-pounder in the nation. Krop, building off his third-place showing at Midlands, has won nine of his last 10 matches; his lone loss in that group was a 3-2 loss to Iowa's Montell Marion, currently the third-ranked wrestler in the nation.
Two seniors coming off big efforts are Daniel Kolodzik (157) and Andy Lowy (174). Kolodzik went 3-0 and has 21 victories this season, while Lowy went 2-0 and has 13 wins. Lowy scored a 13-1 major decision, one of his most impressive wins this season, over a Pitt opponent who had been ranked in the Top 20 this year.
Millersville is currently 1-3 on the season, with two of its losses coming to Brown (32-15) and Harvard (43-0). The Marauders are led by 165-pounder Brandon Vernalli and 197-pounder Joel Suter, both of whom lead the team with eight wins.
Cornell is 2-0 on the season, though it will open its Ivy season Saturday in a 1 p.m. match at Penn. Cornell has four wrestlers ranked in the top six, including two-time reigning national champion Kyle Dake (157). 197-pound senior Cam Simaz is also ranked No. 1, while 184-pound senior Steve Bosak is ranked third and recently scored a 2-1 win over formerly top-ranked Robert Hamlin of Lehigh.
Two of the most anticipated matches of the day will come in the early weights. At 125, reigning EIWA champion Frank Perrelli of Cornell is scheduled to take on Princeton junior Garrett Frey. Perrelli is ranked sixth nationally, while Frey, a 2010 EIWA finalist, leads Princeton with 22 wins this season. Both wrestlers scored a win over the other last season, while this will be their first meeting of the year.
At 141, Krop will take on Cornell's Mike Nevinger, who is 17-7 on the year and ranked 15th. Nevinger scored a 4-0 win over Krop at the season-opening tournament in Binghamton.
WEEKEND PROBABLES
PRINCETON
125 - Garrett Frey (22-8)
133 - Chris Perez (16-9) or Joe DeQuinzio (4-1)
141 - #19 Adam Krop (21-6)
149 - Zach Bintliff (10-11)
157 - Daniel Kolodzik (21-7)
165 - Rich Eva (7-13)
174 - Andy Lowy (13-8)
184 - Dan Santoro (15-13)
197 - Kurt Brendel (9-12)
HWT - Bobby Grogan (3-10) or Charles Fox (2-5)
MILLERSVILLE
125 - Forfeit
133 - Forfeit
141 - Josh Ruppert (7-5)
149 - Steve Hess (2-8)
157 - Zac Wawrzyniak-Bush (7-9)
165 -Brandon Vernalli (8-5)
174 - Shane Smith (3-10)
184 - Ryan Nielsen (1-5)
197 - Joel Suter (8-8)
HWT - Brad Ladd (7-6)
CORNELL
125 - No. 6 Frank Perrelli (15-4)
133 - Nick Pena (9-7)
141 - No. 15 Mike Nevinger (17-7)
149 - Craig Eifert (14-6) or Chris Villalonga (13-4)
157 - No. 1 Kyle Dake (20-0)
165 - Marshall Peppelman (18-7)
174 - Billy George (12-6)
184 - No. 3 Steve Bosak (17-2)
197 - No. 1 Cam Simaz (11-1)
HWT - Maciej Jochym (10-8)