Despite injuries, wrestling finishes third in Bloomsburg Invitational

Carried mostly by younger performers, a weakened Princeton wrestling team placed third at the highly competitive Bloomsburg Invitational Saturday.

With injuries to seniors Joe Rybacki, Scott Pasquini and Brian Foran, the Tigers relied on the strong performances of their sophomore and freshman classes to compete in the tournament. The event consisted of eight schools —Bloomsburg, Buffalo, Princeton, Millersville, Virginia Military Institute, Lycoming, Duke and Binghamton.

Sophomores Greg Parker and Joe Clarke were the Tiger standouts in the tournament. Clarke, who wrestled at the 141-pound weight class, placed second, and Greg Parker, wrestling at 174 pounds, also was a runner-up. In a tight match with Ryan Bentley of Buffalo, Clarke lost, 9-7. Parker also wrestled tremendously, but in his fourth match of the day, fatigue seemed to set in and he lost,7-4, in the championship.

Impressive start

A great sign for the coming season, seven Princeton wrestlers placed in the top five for their respective weight classes. In one of their best early-season performances in recent memory, the Tigers surprised many other programs this past weekend.

Quickly readjusting to wrestling after a year off from the sport, junior Juan Venturi had a strong performance — placing third at the 133-pound weight class and showing why he is one of the top wrestlers in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Associa-tion. Freshman Milo Adams placed fourth at 149 pounds. Adams filled in for senior Jeffrey Bernd, who did not attend this tournament.

Return

One week after finishing his season as the starting defensive tackle for the sprint football team, senior captain Ryan Bonfiglio had several strong matches and placed fourth at the 165-pound weight class. Freshmen Joe Looke and Nate Rawlings each placed fifth — Looke at 197 pounds and Rawlings at 285 pounds.

Like Adams, both Looke and Rawlings were filling in for seniors. Chris McLaughlin, who was unable to attend the meet, would have wrestled in place of Looke, and Rawlings wrestled instead of the injured Rybacki.

In team competition, the Tigers also fared well. With 179 points, Buffalo won the overall championship, squeaking by tournament host Bloomsberg, which tallied 175.5 points. Princeton was third with 96.5 points. Following Princeton, in order, were Millersville, VMI, Lycoming, Duke and Binghamton.

All for one

Even without several key seniors, the Tigers wrestled very well, proving that early projections of team depth were not unfounded. The ability to win when seniors are missing is possibly the strongest attribute of the 2000-2001 wrestling team.

It may not remain a necessity, however. The injuries to Rybacki, Pasquini, and Foran are not serious. These three will be indispensible if the Tigers are going to win the Ivy League championship and compete with EIWA powerhouse Lehigh.

The Tigers will have all week to recover, but still must prepare quickly for their next tournament — the Kutztown Open — which is next Saturday. With a healthier team, Princeton could be even more successful than at Bloomsburg.