By Mark Walters
Spare Ryan Patrovich, please. The brother comparisons are getting old.
As a redshirt sophomore at 165 pounds, Patrovich has probably heard it all when the hardcore Hofstra wrestling fan mentions his older brother Mike. For the softcore fan, Mike Patrovich had a stellar career for the Pride over a six-year span. He was a two-time All-American, but it stops there; because this article isn’t about Mike Patrovich.
Ryan Patrovich was recently named CAA Wrestler of the Week for all competition from February 10-16. It’s an accolade that the Bohemia, New York, native is modest enough to shrug off.
“It’s a great accomplishment but they have one of those every week,” Patrovich said.
Beyond February 16, his 17-6 major decision against Harvard’s Michael Sadler last Friday gave him his 9th win in his last 12 matches. One of those three losses was to Cornell’s Mack Lewnes, the nation’s top-ranked 165-pounder.
Patrovich lost 3-1 to Lewnes in a sudden overtime victory, a dramatic loss at the Mack that sent the sophomore running out of the arena. Having lost a close bout to a top guy, Patrovich was disappointed in himself, stating that he’s had a lot of close matches with top guys, but he’s needed to get that win to put him over the top.
While he’s still on a mission, and still has more top guys to wrestle, his win over Edinboro’s 9th ranked Jarrod King, was certainly a big one that’s proven Patrovich belongs in the same conversation as the top guys.
“It was good to get that one win under my belt,” Patrovich said. “It couldn’t have come at a better time. Now I got more of that confidence that I can get a win over those top guys.”
Head coach Tom Shifflet praised the consistency of Patrovich’s training and said he can see it filter out on the mat during competition. He was proud of the way his 165-pounder wrestled King, mentioning more attempts offensively, which is something the coach has been getting on Patrovich about.
“Against King, he was out there lookin’ for his go-to shot and had three, four attempts before he got it,” Shifflet said.
The win put Patrovich at 20th in the USA Today/InterMat/NWCA Rankings, something else he’s not taking to heart, despite moving up to 19th this week.
“The rankings at this point don’t really matter. It just depends on how good an NCAA tournament I’m gonna have,” Patrovich said.
He’s confident in himself that he’ll be there this season after qualifying last year as a redshirt freshman. He lost in the championship bout of the CAA Championships to Old Dominion’s Chris Brown, someone he’ll have to face again this postseason should he become a CAA Champion.
“I definitely wanna win it this year and I’ll be wrestling the same guy I wrestled last year,” Patrovich said. “I definitely think the outcome will be different this time to go get that win.”
Next week down in Virginia at the conference championships, a stronger and healthier Patrovich certainly stands a better chance than he did last year. Head coach Tom Shifflet says the biggest difference between Patrovich from last year to this is his health.
“Last year he had his knee scoped in the early season. Then he had a high-ankle sprain, which is a 6-8 week, I mean it’s really a bad sprain to get in any sport,” Shifflet said, adding that he tweaked his ankle again once returning and lacked confidence since he missed so much training.
“Where’s your confidence come from?” Shifflet said. “If you’re not training like everybody else, where are you gonna gain that confidence?”
Assistant coach Rob Anspach added to Shifflet’s theory of Patrovich’s health with his own view on the way Patrovich wrestles and how it took a toll due to his lack of a solid training period.
“The way all the Patroviches wrestle is very tough, very physical, wear ya down,” Anspach said. “And if you don’t have consistent training, you cannot wrestle that style.”
Shifflet said that the consistency with Patrovich’s training this year has made a big difference, focusing on the things he needs to improve.
“Putting a couple things together; chain wrestling, position, different hand-fighting techniques that he’s been workin’ on, slowing the pace down, gettin’ off the bottom where he struggled a little bit last year.
“He makes a conscience decision to really work on those things.”
Hard work is something Patrovich is accustomed to, and he practices it regularly. It’s something Anspach is seeing pay off.
“He’s comin’ in three times a week on his own,” Anspach said. “He’s gettin’ those extra drills in and I see every time he goes out and wrestles he has a little more confidence in what he’s doin’ and he’s either closing the gaps or passing the guys.”
It should be noted that he lost to Edinboro’s Jarod King twice last year and once this year before beating him.
“He’s seeing that, ‘I’m not only closing the gaps but I’m winning now. I’m getting’ those wins,'” Anspach said of Patrovich’s psyche. “Just confidence is really big.”
It’s confidence that Patrovich will carry with him down to Virginia and on to St. Louis should he make his second appearance at the NCAA Championships.