By Tim Robertson
For the fourth consecutive year, the Pride wrestling team will send at least eight wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City (March 16-18).
Two-time All-American, Jon Masa, will look to become the first Pride to earn the honor three times.
“His chances are very good. He always comes to perform at the end of the season. He is just a gamer,” teammate Mike Patrovich said.
Masa will wrestle the country’s best including top-ranked, 149-pound wrestler, Dustin Schattler of Minnesota and Oklahoma State’s (OSU) Zack Esposito. Masa wrestled both during the regular season, dropping both matches. But, if Masa can wrestle at his top level the whole weekend and stay on top of his game, he will do well, coach Tom Ryan said.
Patrovich has a legitimate shot to join Masa on the podium at the end of the weekend. If this happens, it will mark the first time two wrestlers from the Pride accomplished the feat in the same year.
“Doing well is a matter of being on and feeling good,” said Patrovich, who will enter the competition as the fifth seed at 174 pounds.
Ryan said Patrovich could tangle with the only regular season foe to pin the Pride captain, Jake Herbert of Northwestern. Another opponent in Patrovich’s way is top-ranked Ben Askren of Missouri, who earned a major decision in the Las Vegas Invitational final over Patrovich.
The Pride is not satisfied with qualifying for the NCAA tournament or the success of two wrestlers. Ryan wants to show the success of the program through all his qualifiers by placing them in the top eight, which would earn them All-American honors.
“We’ve got a team of guys that can place, maybe lower, but they are definitely capable of placing,” Ryan said. “We have a good group of tough guys that if they wrestle well, they could be on the podium.”
Since Ryan took over, the Pride has placed eight wrestlers total and never more than two in the same season.
Hoping to place for the Pride is the comeback kid, Dave Tomasette, at 125 pounds. Going to Oklahoma City with a CAA championship, Tomasette has overcome the most to gain a spot in the competition after injuries plagued him all season. He will be accompanied by five of his opponents this year, and he went 3-2 against them.
After making the NCAA’s last year at 133 pounds, Charles Griffin enters the weekend at 141 pounds. If Griffin can advance far, he will have an opportunity to get redemption on Ryan Churella of Michigan. Griffin, who lost to Churella 4-2, will try to erase the 19-3 loss to Oklahoma’s Teyon Ware.
James Strouse and Joe Rovelli will walk onto the mat with a year of previous experience at the NCAA Championships. Both wrestlers are currently ranked in the W.I.N. Magazine poll (Strouse 16th and Rovelli 15th). Strouse looks ahead to rematches against Kevin Ward (OSU), Justin Manotti (Cornell) and West Virginia’s Matt Lebe, who all struggled significantly in pulling out victories against Strouse. Future match-ups for Rovelli include a rematch with Rusty Blackmon of OSU, who defeated the sophomore in overtime, and Cornell’s Joe Mazzurco, who narrowly escaped with a 4-1 win over Rovelli.
Rounding out the qualifiers are Chris Vondruska and Chris Weidman, who make their inaugural appearances. Both have experience against the top wrestlers in their respective weight classes of 165 and 197. Vondruska battled the top two ranked men and the heavy favorites, Ryan Churella (Michigan) and Johnny Hendricks (OSU). Weidman dropped matches to Jake Rosholt (OSU), Joel Flaggert (Oklahoma), who ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.