Comunale seizes sixth in last meet

Senior heavyweight Sam Ritter, junior 157-pounder Marty Everin and freshman 125-pounder Tony Comunale each picked up at least one victory. Comunale finished in sixth place while freshman 174-pounder Travis Erdman was announced as an All-Ivy Honorable Mention selection for his regular-season success.

Comunale was seeded eighth in the 125-pound bracket and was immediately faced with the tall task of wrestling top-seeded No. 12 Roger Peterkin of Penn. Comunale lost 15-0 by technical fall, but he proved his resilience, pinning fifth-seeded Greg Hart of Bucknell in one minute, 52 seconds in his first consolation match. This win guaranteed him a spot on the medal stand. He followed this success with another, pinning East Stroudsburg’s Matthew Benedetti in 2:18 and raising the stakes for the next match, in which a win would have sent him to NCAAs. Unfortunately for the Tigers, a tight 8-6 decision went in favor of American’s Jason Borschoff. Comunale then lost the fifth-place match 16-6 to third-seeded Brandon Kinney of Columbia.

Head coach Chris Ayres was proud of the progress his young fighters had made since the beginning of the season.

“Would [Comunale] have placed in November? No way,” Ayres said. “All the guys have made a big jump this year.”

Everin, who missed most of the season with an injury, pulled an upset of his own. Unseeded, Everin faced Christopher Norrell of Rutgers in the first round and took a convincing 9-2 decision. Everin was then matched with top-seeded Jordan Leen of Cornell, who defeated him by the same score. In the consolation bracket, Everin dropped a hard-fought 7-5 decision to Bucknell’s Brantley Hooks.

Also unseeded, Ritter faced off against third-seeded Levon Mock of Brown and lost 12-1. He fought back with a 4-2 victory over Lehigh’s Justin Allen but was eliminated from the consolation bracket by Cornell’s Maciej Jochym, 11-3. Ritter would have likely earned a seed in the heavyweight bracket had he not torn cartilage between his ribs against Harvard in February and missed the last four matches of the regular season.

The other Tigers participating in the tournament lost both their championship and consolation-bracket matches. Sophomore 133-pounder Nikhil Pereira was pinned twice, first in 1:37 by second-seeded Seth Ciasulli of Lehigh and then by Army’s Whitt Dunning. Junior 165-pounder Alex Enriquez fell 10-0 to Navy’s Justin Jacobs and was eliminated 15-4 by Christopher Musser of Brown. Erdman fought his way to two 6-3 losses in a tough 174-pound bracket. Shane Riccio of Bucknell knocked Erdman out of the championship bracket, and Rutgers’ Mike Whalen eliminated him from the consolation bracket.

While the Tigers did not win a dual meet this season, the team took many steps in the right direction, and it’s clear that the future is bright. Princeton only loses two wrestlers to graduation. Senior captain Johnny Clore was a great team leader, but after suffering a string of concussions early in the season he was unable to continue wrestling. Ritter, who walked onto the team as a senior, will also graduate. In his one year with the team, Ritter compiled a 10-3 dual meet record.

The rest of the team will return next season. With Everin back at full health and Comunale and Erdman wrestling with a year’s experience under their belts, Princeton’s prospects look bright. And it wouldn’t be surprising to see another solid freshman class. In his first year, Ayres proved his ability to recruit talented wrestlers to a program that had hit rock-bottom. With the team’s progression this year, Ayres’ job has only gotten easier.

“I think we’re going to make some big strides across the spring and summer,” Ayres said. “I think guys are really motivated to make a big jump.”

The 2007-08 Princeton wrestling team may have had its share of lopsided defeats, but there was definitely something different about this year’s squad. The Tigers wrestled with more intensity, both in victory and defeat, than they had in the past. Coaches were able to move beyond general teaching and focus on the nitty-gritty with individual players. And most importantly, the team found competitive leaders in Comunale, Erdman and Ritter, who consistently notched victories. Watch out for Princeton to really take off next season.