By Mark Walters
Going into day two of the 2008 Colonial Athletic Association Wrestling Championships held at the David S. Mack Sports Complex, the Hofstra Pride held a nine-point advantage over second-place Old Dominion. On Friday, the Pride advanced all 10 of its wrestlers into the semifinals. Hofstra’s dominance in the first round included three falls, four major decisions, and one tech fall.
It was day two that would put the Pride to the test.
The team rose to the occasion, capturing its 7th consecutive CAA Title and 8th conference title in as many years, beating Old Dominion by 17.5 points (104.5-87). Rider finished 3rd with 73 points, while George Mason rounded out the top four with 51 points.
“It’s a lot more competitive this year. Old Dominion has done a great job recruiting and preparing. Their guys took it to us today,” said Hofstra Head Coach Tom Shifflet.
Of the 10 Pride wrestlers to advance to the semifinals, seven moved on to their respective championship bouts, with all seven of them punching their tickets to St. Louis. Hofstra put four of its finalists against wrestlers from ODU, who had five finalists.
The top two wrestlers from each weight class earned trips to the NCAA Championships, to be held March 20-22, in St. Louis. There are also four “wild cards” voted on by the CAA coaches to go to the national championships.
Sophomore Lou Ruggirello, last year’s CAA Rookie of the Year, won the first title for Hofstra at 133 pounds, scoring a 3-1 overtime victory against Old Dominion’s Kyle Hutter. The two had met previously this season, with Ruggirello pinning Hutter in 1:15.
“I knew he was an offensive wrestler. I wasn’t that nervous. I knew I should’ve beaten him,” Ruggirello said after the match.
After winning both of his previous matches by fall, Ruggirello admitted to being a little tired, but he kept going after it en route to his second CAA Title.
Prior to Ruggirello’s match, senior Dave Tomasette, seeded second in the conference at 125 pounds and a two-time CAA Champion, also faced a familiar foe in ODU’s James Nicholson, who was seeded first. Nicholson beat Tomasette 2-1 in a feisty match that saw a scoreless first period.
At 144 pounds, senior and three-time CAA Champion Charles Griffin made a few late third-period lunges to no avail as he lost to ODU’s Ryan Williams 3-2. At one point, Griffin trailed 3-0, but he managed to get out of Williams’ hold twice to make it a close match in his second-place effort.
Hofstra’s second champion came at 157 pounds, as first-seeded Jonny Bonilla-Bowman defeated Drexel’s Ryan Hluschak in a thrilling match.
After a scoreless three minutes, Bowman went up 1-0 early in the second period. Once he escaped a double leg grab, it was 2-2. The score got to 6-3 in Hluschak’s favor but Bonilla-Bowman soon scored four points via takedowns to tie it 6-6 as the second period ended.
Hluschak seemed to take his time to start the final period, and he took a 7-6 lead 40 seconds into the third, but Bonilla-Bowman responded to the delight of the home crowd with a takedown inside the final 20 seconds. He held his opponent down and saluted the crowd as he won his first CAA Title.
“I remember hearing them [the coaches] saying to stay positive. That’s the hardest thing to do, especially when you’re losing 13-0 in the first period, but if you don’t put yourself in position to win, you can have positive coming out of your ears and you won’t win,” Bonilla-Bowman said after his match.
When asked about Hluschak’s stalling before the third period, he said that it meant he was tired, which was bad news for Hluschak.
“That gives me more time to recover. And he’s not gonna recover like I am,” Bonilla-Bowman said in reference to his superior fitness and conditioning. “My high school coach told me that most men stop when they feel tired. Good men stop when they think they can’t go anymore. But the very best men know that they must break down every barrier before they can reach the unattainable,” Bonilla-Bowman said. “I know I have to work harder and smarter than I ever have in my life,” he added about getting ready for the NCAA tournament.
After Bonilla-Bowman’s match, freshman Ryan Patrovich took to the mat for the 165-pound championship bout against Chris Brown of ODU. Patrovich would lose his first CAA Title match 12-7.
Brown was winning 6-3 after two periods, and Patrovich came up from starting the third on the bottom to make it 6-4, but Brown took Patrovich down to make it 8-4 with a minute to go. After that, Patrovich scored one for escaping Brown, but the two would exchange two-for-ones to close out the match.
At 174 pounds, junior and top-seeded Alton Lucas wrestled a bit timidly compared to his typical style.
“I was nervous. That kid’s tough,” Lucas said. “I didn’t wanna get in a bad position, so I just took what he gave me,” he added.
George Mason’s Randy Oates led him 4-2 after the first period, but Lucas took control in the latter stages of the match, finishing his championship run with a 7-4 decision.
“I made a few mistakes last year, so I wanted to prove I was capable this year,” Lucas said. “I kept my head on straight and my eye on the prize. This is just a short-term goal though,” he added, holding up the poster of his championship bracket. “The next two weeks is the long term goal. I’m gonna listen to the coaches, cause they’ve been there before and they know what’s best,” he said.
Joe Rovelli, seeded first at 197 pounds, met Rider’s TJ Morrison, seeded third, in his championship bout. Rovelli, who made the switch this season from 184, wrestled a patient first period, which ended tied at zero. Morrison took a 4-1 lead in the third. Rovelli made it 4-2 with 52 seconds left, but the Pride senior couldn’t pull it out, as he lost 4-2.
While the second place would have ordinarily sent Rovelli to the national tournament, he had to face George Mason’s Cayle Byers, who won his third place bout and hadn’t faced Rovelli at all in the tournament. Had the two met previously with Rovelli winning, they wouldn’t have had to wrestle for the “true second.”
Rovelli beat Byers 10-5 to seal his NCAA fate and earn a trip to St. Louis.
“Now, I have to forget about everything that’s happened all season. At St. Louis, everyone is 0-0. This is like practice for nationals,” a sweat-soaked Rovelli said, sitting behind press row against the wall of the Mack Sports Complex. “To be honest, I thought the guys would feel stronger at 197, but I got my weight up over the summer and they don’t feel very different,” he added about the weight change.
“I was a little disappointed. To have three seniors lose their last match at home, it’s tough to swallow. It’s nice to win as a team, but it’s gonna eat me up knowing those guys lost,” Pride Head Coach Tom Shifflet said.
To round out Hofstra’s scoring, Mitch Smith took fourth place at 149 pounds, losing to Binghamton’s Kyle Fried in the third place match. Don Fisch of Rider claimed the 149 pound championship after beating Smith in the semifinals. Justin Danz took third for the Pride at 184, defeating Drexel’s Justin Wieller in the consolation final. Doug Umbehauer of Rider won the 184 pound title. At 285, Hofstra’s Tom Daddino lost in the consolation round Saturday to Drexel’s Bryant Deinhardt, eliminating him from the consolation round. Ed Bordas from Rider won the 285 pound championship.