By Mark Walters
Heading into the Colonial Athletic Association Championships this weekend in Chesapeake, Virginia, never mind the Pride’s eight consecutive conference titles. While they have won every CAA title since joining the conference in 2002, a ninth title is not exactly in the forefront of their minds.
And it’s not all about redemption either.
Sure, after losing its first conference dual match since 1999 earlier this season at the hands of Old Dominion, it would be sweet to go down to ODU’s own mat and assert their conference dominance over the Monarchs, but put that on the back burner.
“I really don’t think it’s that big of a deal than it is gettin’ as many people as we can to the nationals. I don’t think it’s that much of a stress,” senior Alton Lucas said about the added pressure of defending an eight-year streak of conference titles.
Lucas enters this weekend’s conference tournament as the top-ranked wrestler at 174 pounds. He is undefeated (6-0) against CAA competition on the season. He’s the top-ranked 174-pounder in the conference, and is presently ranked ninth in the nation by the USA Today/InterMat/NWCA poll.
This season hasn’t been a smooth ride for the senior however. As one of three returning CAA champions and the sole returning All-American, Lucas admitted to wrestling through some anxiety during the season.
“I’ve been wrestling off and on, up and down during the season so I’ve been having a little doubt on my mind, but I’m starting to feel better. I just gotta keep wrestling. I gotta keep going,” Lucas said.
Head coach Tom Shifflet sees it as a kind of complacency.
“Whereas last year he was chasing to get on the podium, this year he’s already on it,” Shifflet said. “It’s a different Alton Lucas.”
Having a bull’s eye on one’s back is never easy, and as the lone senior leader on his team, Lucas has been constantly encouraged by his teammates to keep pushing.
“Me being the only All-American, everybody looking up to me and me not performing up to where I should be, it’s been hard,” Lucas said. “People look up to me. I haven’t been performing right, but they still encourage me, like ‘Keep wrestling, you can do it.’ They still believe in me, so I’m just gonna keep wrestling.”
Always a competitor, he won’t be bringing any tricks with him down to Virginia.
“I mean, you just gotta stay focused,” Lucas said. “I gotta wrestle with the same mentality I’ve had all year. I wrestled the same guy at the CAA [dual], did pretty good there. I’m just gonna go there with the same mentality. Gotta keep movin’.”
At the CAA Duals on January 17, Lucas beat ODU’s Eric Decker 3-1 in a sudden victory overtime.
Hofstra’s other two defending conference champions, Jonny Bonilla-Bowman at 165 pounds and Lou Ruggirello at 133, are simply put, fired up.
“I’m trying to do what I gotta do best,” Bonilla-Bowman said. “I just like scoring lots of points, so I’m not really gonna try to prepare for anyone specific, just try to do my thing.”
Bonilla-Bowman enters the CAA tournament as the top-ranked 165 pounder. He’s No. 16 in the nation with an 18-7 overall record. Speaking on behalf of getting redemption against Old Dominion, Bowman is all business.
“I think we’re just gonna go in there,” Bowman began. “Not coming back ’cause we gotta keep this roll, we got like a streak for conference wins; not any of that [expletive], just win it. Just win it, that’s all.”
He said his abdomen that he injured against Cornell is still not 100 percent at this point, but it’s feeling much better. He wrestled live Tuesday for the first time in three weeks, claiming he feels good.
“Not 100 percent, but they’ll suffice,” Bowman added about his ribs.
Like Lucas and Bonilla-Bowman, Ruggirello is the top-ranked CAA wrestler in his weight class. He’s eighth in the nation with a 25-3 overall record and undefeated in the conference.
Like Lucas, he’s not too worried about the overall performance of the team, given everyone takes care of his own business.
“I don’t think they’re [coaches] putting too much pressure on us that way,” Ruggirello said about avenging the earlier-season loss to Old Dominion. “They just want everyone going down there and doing as good as they can individually. And if everyone does that, we should have no problem coming out on top as a team.”
He said he’s been feeling good this week, and seemed motivated after Tuesday’s practice. While most of the team seemed low-key about it, Ruggirello said he’d like to go to their [ODU] hometown and get a little revenge.
“I take it as something to look forward to.”
While it’s not guaranteed, it might as well be considered anything but that the team title will come down to the host Monarchs and Hofstra. Both schools feature three top-ranked wrestlers-James Nicholson at 125 pouunds, Ryan Williams at 141, and Chris Brown at 165. Like Hofstra’s three No. 1’s, ODU’s are all defending conference champions.
Can you feel that conference water boiling?
Headliners aside, it’s going to take some big performances from several other key components of the Pride’s 10-man arsenal.
The bigger guys, Ben Clymer at 184, Joe Fagiano at 197, and Jordan Enck at 285 all find themselves somewhat buried in their weight’s rankings. All three will be making their CAA tournament debuts in very competitive classes.
Although Fagiano has missed much of the season due to injury and has been battling a virus, he said he’s been preparing and is ready to go.
“I may not be ranked one of the top kids but I feel I’m definitely one of the better kids in this conference,” Fagiano said.
His coach agrees, stating that despite his recent setbacks, the sophomore should pose a threat in the 197 bracket.
“He’s a guy who I think is good enough to win the conference if he’s wrestling like he did in the beginning of the year,” Shifflet said. “He’s had a rough season. He was out of the lineup for quite a while, struggled when he came back and the last couple weeks of his training has been great.”
For his heavyweight, Shifflet feels no differently about his odds of winning.
“Jordan Enck is certainly good enough to win the conference also,” Shifflet said, mentioning how Enck lost in overtime to Rider’s Eddie Bordas, the top-ranked heavyweight and defending conference champion.
Always positive and upbeat, Clymer is enthusiastic at having a chance to qualify for the national tournament.
“I’ve been drilling and fine tuning a lot of stuff with [Coach] Anspach comin’ down the stretch here,” Clymer said. “The first conference tournament comin’ up and I’m just excited for it.”
While he’s faced a lot of tough competition all season, he knows it is all part of getting to the next level. Shifflet knows he’s going to need big things from his three big men in order to be successful as a team, and Clymer has been inching closer all year against his competition.
“Ben against both the top two seeds at that weight was right there; one, two points away from beating those guys,” Shifflet said. “I certainly think that when they walked away from those dual meets, he made ’em a little nervous and that’s a good thing. He lost probably a little confidence against Ben.”
With Old Dominion getting closer to Hofstra each year, this CAA tournament could be the closest it’s been in years. Last year the Pride won by 17.5. It’s a gap that Shifflet has been watching over the years, and it’s something he’s excited about.
“We need that competition,” he began. “In year’s past, you didn’t have to prepare real well for this tournament. Now you have to prepare. A couple good guys in each one of these weight classes are gonna have to wrestle well to win, and you kinda gotta go in there in the right state of mind and prepare for the guys you’re gonna go up against.”
Shifflet added that due to the heightened competition in the conference, his team’s training has stayed more consistent which is more beneficial heading into nationals.
“We’re ready to go. And if they wrestle the way I know they can wrestle, we’ll come home with another conference championship.
Notes & Quotes
The rest of the field shakes down a little bit like this: At 125, freshman Steve Bonanno is ranked second. He lost 5-2 to Nicholson at the CAA Duals. Justin Accordino is No. 2 at 141. Accordino fell 8-3 to ODU’s Ryan Williams. PJ Gillespie is ranked sixth in the 149-class, and it’s a class that is not headed by a Monarch. This should be an interesting weight to watch as Gillespie’s only win at the CAA Duals was a 3-2 decision over Boston University’s top-ranked Mike Roberts. Gillespie fell to ODU’s Joey Metzler, ranked second, Sacred Heart’s Anthony Priore, ranked third, and Rider’s Aaron Nestor, ranked fifth. Bonilla-Bowman didn’t struggle much at the duals, deciding Rider’s Mike Kessler, ranked second at 157. ODU’s Kaylen Baxter, ranked third, also fell to Bowman 8-4.
At 165, Ryan Patrovich is looking to avenge his loss to ODU’s defending CAA champion, Chris Brown. Patrovich is ranked second to Brown, but the gap is closing. Patrovich only lost 3-2 to Brown at the CAA Duals.
At 184, Ben Clymer is ranked third behind Binghamton’s Josh Patterson and Rider’s Doug Umbehauer. Umbehauer is the defending champ, but only beat Clymer 4-2 at the duals in January. Fagiano is ranked fifth at 197, having only faced one conference opponent. It’s safe to say none of his competition will be ready for him this weekend. George Mason’s Cayle Byers finished third in the conference last year and is No. 1 at 197. Finally at 285, Jordan Enck is ranked fourth behind Bordas from Rider, ODU’s Roy Dragon, and Drexel’s Kyle Frey.
Since this is “Notes & Quotes,” how ’bout this from Joe Fagiano:
“It’s all about attitude at this point. It doesn’t matter what you’re seeded or who thinks you’re gonna win, it’s about getting’ it done, so I feel like I’m ready to go.”