By Ron Egan
What do the Big Ten, Big XII, EIWA and CAA all have in common? They are the only conferences in the nation – out of the 11 – which a team had at least eight wrestlers qualify for NCAA Nationals in St. Louis.
The Pride joined Annual national powers Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Oklahoma State and others in this elite group of 10 teams sending such a large number of wrestlers to Nationals.
While qualifying eight of its wrestlers for Nationals, the Pride dominated the CAA Tournament at Rider University Friday and Saturday.
Sending an impressive eight wrestlers to the finals and taking home four titles, the Pride’s 111 team-points easily outdistanced host Rider’s 69.5, claiming its third straight CAA Championship. Pride seniors Tom Noto, Ralph Everett, Noel Thompson and junior Chris Skretkowicz took first place in their respective weight classes.
Pride head coach Tom Ryan set the team’s aspirations for the tournament.
“Our goal is to always win the CAA,” Ryan said. “We knew we had an outstanding team, and that was a goal. That didn’t change throughout the season.”
Ryan bestowed credit upon the assistant coaches who stepped in after Ryan’s son, Teague, passed away. They ran many of the practices prior to the CAA Tournament win, which was extra special.
“The team didn’t dedicate the season to Teague,” Ryan said. “But it was special for me. Teague liked to win and so do I.” The Pride, who had not wrestled for nearly two weeks, started off the tournament looking very sharp.
Of the nine wrestlers the Pride sent – minus Ricky LaForge, who quit the team, at 133 – the team went 12-0 on Friday, becoming the first team in CAA history to send every wrestler they entered into the semi-final round.
In Saturday afternoon’s semis, the Pride’s momentum from the previous day carried over. Tom Noto (125), John Manarte (141), James Strouse (149), Paul Siemon (157), Ralph Everett (165), Noel Thompson (174), Brad Christie (184) and Chris Skretkowicz (197) advanced to the finals, all but securing first place for the Pride.
Noto avenged an earlier loss to Rob Rebmann of Drexel at the Cortland Open with a dominating 11-3 major decision victory.
Coach Ryan saw a different Noto on the mat than earlier in the season.”Earlier in the season, [Noto] was adjusting to weight,” Ryan said. “But Tom is a guy who is always prepared at the end of the year. He showed how good he is.”
Red-shirt freshmen John Manarte and James Strouse followed Noto’s example with two of the biggest victories in the tournament. Manarte’s 141-pound semi-final opponent, George Mason’s No. 10 Rob Becker, won the Cliff Keene/ Las Vegas Invitational earlier this season. All of Manarte’s close matches this season paid off as he recorded a late takedown with time winding down in the third period to secure a 3-2 victory.
The 149-pound Strouse followed suite against nationally ranked Rayes Gonzales of Boston University. Gonzales, the No. 2 seed, was overmatched against No. 3 Strouse, who wrestled a smart, methodical match en route to a 4-2 victory and a place in the finals. The two wrestlers’ efforts in the semi-final round was a reflection of the improvements the two have made this year.
“[Manarte and Strouse] are a direct result of the leadership of this program,” coach Ryan said. “They helped us, and we helped them. Nobody wants to be the guy that doesn’t qualify for nationals, they stepped up.”
Junior Paul Siemon looked sharp in a commanding 8-2 victory over Sacred Heart’s Rob Belville. Senior Ralph Everett continued his CAA Tournament success with an 11-5 minor decision over Rider’s Ryan Cunningham. Top-seeded senior Noel Thompson was nothing short of dominant in his 174-pound victory of No. 4 seed Ben Schliens of Boston University.
The final senior on the squad, 184-pound Brad Christie, earned his spot in the finals with a tight, 3-2, victory over No. 3 Nick Wright of Old Dominion.
Junior Chris Skretkowicz was on target as he shutout Boston University freshman John DaCruz, 5-0, to advance to the finals.
The only loss of the round was in the heavyweight class, where Pride sophomore Dan Garay dropped a heartbreaking, 2-1 decision to eventual champion Payam Zarrinpour of Sacred Heart.
Entering the finals, the Pride already built a lead too substantial for any other CAA opponent to overcome, as their eight finalists greatly outdistanced the nearest opponent, Rider, who had three.
Noto, wrestling in his final CAA event, found himself in a rematch of the CAA final of two years ago, against Boston University’s Jose Leon. Noto, a two-time defending conference champ, continued his strong wrestling of late, dominating Leon for the second time in two finals, winning, 6-2, in a match in which the only points Leon scored where escapes.
Manarte had a difficult match against No. 3 Josh Ruff of Binghamton, who had defeated Manarte earlier in the season 4-1. This match, Ruff jumped out to an early lead with a first period takedown. Ruff padded his lead with an escape in the second period to put himself up 3-0. A Manarte takedown moved the score to 3-2, but that was as close as he got, as Ruff used an escape and a point from riding time, enough points to hold off a late Manarte escape, to secure his first CAA Title with a 5-3 win.
Strouse faced Adrian Austin of George Mason, the top seed. Austin, No. 15 nationally, recorded two first period takedowns and never looked back, as he won a hard-fought, 8-4, minor decision.
The most controversial match of the night occurred at 157-pounds. The Pride’s Paul Siemon and Rider’s Dave Miller entered the final each undefeated in the CAA. Siemon, returning from a shoulder injury, looked impressive early, and with less then 30 seconds remaining in the first period, took down Miller and looked for back-points.
However, the referee stopped the match, allowing Miller to rest, which proved to be a large disadvantage to the better-conditioned Siemon. After the discrepancy was “resolved,” Siemon was awarded two takedown points and no near-fall points. When the match recommenced, the rested Miller was able to use a burst of energy to catch Siemon and pin him, in a match that infuriated much of the crowd. Miller was voted Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament.
Seniors and top-seeds Ralph Everett and Noel Thompson left no doubt who the top team in the tournament was after the Siemon match, as both dominated en route to their second CAA titles. Everett, the 174-pound champ last year, was at his best in the final against Leighton Brady of Boston University.
Everett dominated from his feet as well as on top, as he had over four minutes of riding time and secured a 7-2 decision.
Explosive 174-pound Thompson clearly overmatched Drexel’s Nick Kozar, using an impressive takedown early in the match, then proceeded to put Kozar on his back for the only pin of the finals. Thompson was the 165-pound CAA champion last season. With the victories, Everett and Thompson became the sixth and seventh wrestlers in Pride history to win conference titles in different weight classes.
The final two matches of the night for the Pride brought mixed results. At 184 pounds, No. 2 Brad Christie faced off against Rider’s Nick Catone, ranked No. 13 nationally.
Catone earned an escape in the second period, but it was Christie who was hit with a controversial stalling call late in the third period to give Catone the 2-0 lead en route to a 2-1 victory.
Skretkowicz was matched up with No. 8 Chris Jones of Drexel for the second time this season in a battle of the top two seeds in the tournament. Skretkowicz, No. 2 nationally, continued his domination of his CAA competition, as he shutout Jones and won a 4-0 minor decision. Skretkowicz finished the CAA season without allowing a single point to a CAA opponent.
The Pride goes to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis on March 18-20. “We need to improve to be top five in the NCAA’s,” Ryan said. “Even without LaForge,that goal still stays the same…The people believe in this system, and this is a direct result of it.”