By Tyler McCord, Staff Writer
Senior Lou Ruggirello (133 lbs.) and junior P.J. Gillespie (165 lbs.) earned All-American honors at the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships last weekend at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Hofstra finished twenty-sixth as a team, with 22.0 points.
Ruggirello won by fall in 57 seconds over Demetrius Johnson of Tennessee-Chattanooga in his first round match. In the second round, Ruggirello had a Colonial Athletic Association championship final rematch with Kyle Hutter of Old Dominion.
Ruggirello won by decision, 5-1. In the next round, Ruggirello faced yet another familiar opponent. This time it was against Tyler Graff of Wisconsin. Graff is responsible for one of Ruggirello’s three losses in the regular season, by decision, 2-0.
Graff was too much for Ruggirello again, winning 2-1. The loss put Ruggirello in the wrestlebacks round. In the first wrestlebacks round match, Ruggirello broke his nose against no. 6 Tony Ramos of Iowa. Ruggirello fought through his injury and won by decision, 8-7. It looked like Ruggirello was going to win 4-2 over Cornell’s no. 8 Mike Grey, the Hofstra senior was hit with a stalling call and then reversed, giving Grey three points and the win by a score of 5-4.
“He wrestled great and put himself in a position to win, but he relaxed,” said the new head coach Rob Anspach, taking over for Tom Shifflet who resigned to take another job.
The loss put Ruggirello in the 7/8 match against no. 7 Bernard Futrell of Illinois. Ruggirello ended up beating Futrell 9-6 and taking seventh place in the tournament to finish off his Hofstra wrestling career. He finished with a 32-5 record for the season and 131-26 for his career which ranks second all-time behind Chris Skretkowicz’s 140 wins between 2001-05.
Shifflet’s prediction that Gillespie would be a tough out in the NCAA Tournament against a new opponent proved to be true, as Gillespie knocked off no. 6 Dallas Baily of Oklahoma State in the first round by a score of 4-2 in overtime.
“He wrestled great,” said Anspach. “P.J. wrestled well in the beginning of the year and maybe in January he lost to guys he shouldn’t have lost to, but we felt confident about his spot and how he was wrestling.”
He then decisioned Peter Yates of Virginia Tech, 5-2. Gillespie’s run for a title was stopped short by #3 Tyler Caldwell of Oklahoma by a score of 2-1. In the wrestlebacks round he beat Pennsylvania’s Steve Burak 11-4 to seal his title as an All-American, but lost to no. 7 Shane Onufer of Wyoming 7-6 to place him in the 7/8 match against Brandon Hatchet of Lehigh. Lehigh held Gillespie scoreless to win by decision, 3-0. Gillespie finished with a 27-10 record on the season.
In his first match, sophomore Steve Bonano (125 lbs.), tried to avenge an earlier loss to Utah Valley’s Ben Kjar, but Kjar prevailed 5-2. In the wrestlebacks round Bonanno took on Tyler Iwamura of Cal State Bakersfield. Bonanno edged Iwamura 6-5, but his run in the wrestlebacks round ended with a 5-3 loss to Pittsburgh’s Anthony Zanetta. Bonanno ended the season with a 24-13 record.
Junior Vince Varela (141 lbs.) lost his opening match to Oregon State’s Michael Mangrum, 9-3. Varela answered back with a 12-1 major decision over Mike Koehlein of Nebraska. Like Bonanno, Varela’s run ended in his second match in the wrestlebacks round to American’s no. 11 Matthew Mariacher. The transfer from Arizona State finished with a 21-15 record.
Senior Ryan Patrovich (174 lbs.) was unable to get even from an earlier loss to Purdue’s Luke Manuel in his first match of the tournament, losing 5-2. Patrovich decisioned Michigan’s Justin Zeerip 3-1 to advance him in the wrestlebacks round. In his next match, Patrovich again prevailed, winning 9-5 over Curran Jacobs of Michigan State. In his third wrestleback match, Patrovich took on Missouri’s Dorian Henderson. Patrovich edged Henderson 4-2 to give him a chance to place in the All-America round. The Hofstra senior was not able to cap off his run, instead losing to Oregon State’s Colby Covington 3-2.
“Ryan’s had a pretty frustrating career with all of his injuries and he won’t say that and use that as a crutch, but what he’s accomplished is pretty remarkable,” said Anspach. The loss ended his season and his Hofstra career. Patrovich finished with a record of 18-7 for the season.
Junior Ben Clymer lost his opening match to no. 6 Ryan Loder of Northern Iowa, 4-2, in overtime. In the wrestlebacks round Clymer took on Maryland’s Cory Peltier. Clymer decisioned Peltier 5-1, but lost his second match in overtime to Navy’s Luke Rebertus, 2-1. Clymer finished 21-10 on the season.
Sophomore Paul Snyder, who made his first appearance in the tournament, lost to no. 12 Eric Bugenhagen of Wisconsin, 7-2. Snyder was then decisioned 3-2 by Boise State’s J.T. Felix. Synder ended the season with a record of 21-15, a big turnaround from his 11-16 record of a year ago.
The NCAA Championships were the last matches at Hofstra for Shifflet, who is handing over the reigns to Anspach. For Anspach, his duties as head coach have already started. “It’s not that much, but there are a lot of things that need to be done,” said Anspach of his new position. “At the end of the day it is a great feeling.”