Wrestling: Tigers win twice to take the weekend

After two successful individual tournaments, the wrestling team was eager to try its luck in a dual-match format. Over the weekend, Princeton (2-1 overall) did just that, taking two of its three matches at Dillon Gymnasium. The Tigers defeated Franklin & Marshall, 38-12, on Friday, and the team split matches on Saturday, vanquishing Virginia Military Institute, 33-6, before falling to cross-Brunswick Pike rival Rutgers, 34-3.

“I thought it was a pretty good weekend, actually. Against F&M, we wrestled pretty well, and against VMI, it was the best overall team performance since I’ve been at Princeton,” head coach Chris Ayres said. “I think the good thing is that we’ve made a lot of progress, and it’s starting to show.”

Last year, Princeton captured its first win of the season in a tense 25-14 match against Franklin & Marshall. Twelve months and one talented freshman recruiting class later, the score was not even close. The Tigers jumped to a 29-3 lead before cruising to a 38-12 win in their opening match.

After freshman 125-pounder Garrett Frey took a forfeit for a 6-0 lead, his classmate, 133-pounder Zach Bintliff, dropped a 5-2 match to Franklin & Marshall’s Jason Bucha. Another Franklin & Marshall forfeit, this one at 141-pounds, extended the lead to 12-3.

“The greatest thing about the three matches is we weren’t forfeiting any,” Ayres said. “Last year, we were averaging two to three forfeits a match.”

Then the Tigers went on a tear. Pins by sophomore 149-pounder Dan Kolodzik and senior 157-pounder Danny Scotton were followed by sophomore 165-pounder Andy Lowy’s 21-5 technical fall. Princeton’s success in the mid-weight classes clinched the victory with four matches still to be wrestled. The team’s final win came courtesy of sophomore 184-pounder Kurt Brendel’s 9-6 decision over Matt Latessa.

Princeton pushed its record to 2-0 with a 33-6 win over VMI on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers dominated the match, capturing nine victories and one forfeit in the first 10 matches.

The freshman trio of Frey, Bintliff and 141-pounder Luis Ramos opened the match with three consecutive wins by scores of 8-5, 7-2 and 2-0, respectively. The success of Frey, Bintliff and Ramos typified the performance of Princeton’s underclassmen over the weekend.

“It’s kind of a cool thing to have so many freshmen. In one match, eight of the 10 weights were kids under their junior year,” Ayres said. “The freshmen and sophomores have improved incredibly since they’ve gotten here. The main thing we can’t have is any injuries, but if we keep this lineup throughout the year, I think we’ll be in pretty good shape.”

The Tigers continued their success at the mid-weight divisions with a 9-4 win from Kolodzik at 149 and an 8-4 win from Scotton at 157. Following a forfeit by VMI at 165, junior 174-pounder Travis Erdman picked up his first win of the season by fall at 6:16 over Andrew Szymborski. A pin by Brendel extended Princeton’s lead to 33-0 before the team dropped the meet’s final two matches.

In the final pairing of the weekend, the Tigers faced a Rutgers team whose lineup featured a number of nationally ranked wrestlers. Though the Scarlet Knights won by a convincing score of 34-3, the individual matches between the teams were much closer.

Frey dropped a 4-2 decision to Vincent Dellafave — a high school state champion in New Jersey the past two seasons — at 125 pounds. Then, Bintliff dropped an 8-1 decision to No. 19 Billy Ashnault that was much closer than the score suggested. Ramos lost to Trevor Melde, 19-4, by technical fall.

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The highlight of the day came in the 149-pound match, where Kolodzik captured his third victory of the weekend, defeating No. 20 David Greenwald in a thrilling match by a score of 8-5. Princeton had a chance to pick up another victory at 157, but after grabbing a first-period lead, Scotton dropped a close 4-3 decision to Kellen Bradley.

Though the Tigers wrestled hard in the remainder of the matches, they failed to make any headway against the Scarlet Knights’ experienced lineup.

“I think it was good to see where we stood against a really good team,” Ayres said. “It gave us a really good benchmark. We were really in a lot of the matches. If we can close the gap on those types of guys, I think a lot of really great things are going to happen for our program this year.”