By David Gibb
Throughout winter break, Hofstra Wrestling stayed extremely busy taking on top-level competition. Between December 29 and January 31, the Pride sent five wrestlers to the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, NC, participated in the CAA Conference Duals and in six non-conference head-to-head meets, including face-offs with third-ranked Ohio State and number 17 Missouri.
At the Southern Scuffle, a double-elimination tournament which took place between the 29th and 30th of December, the Pride sent wrestlers to the mat in five weight classes: true freshman Luke Vaith at 133, redshirt freshman Tyler Banks at 149, sophomore P.J. Gillespie at 165, junior Ryan Patrovich at 174, and sophomore Ben Clymer at 184.
Luke Vaith won his first match of the Scuffle, defeating Luis Ramos of Princeton 9-5. His day was short after that, as he fell to Elijah Nacita and Dale Shull of NC State.
At 149, Tyler Banks faced off in the first round against North Carolina's Daniel Helena. In a close, low-scoring contest, Banks prevailed, winning 3-2. His next match came against Torsten Gillespie of Edinboro University. Gillespie replicated his performance against Hofstra's Banks, again claiming a 9-1 victory for the Fighting Scots. In consolation competition, the 1-1 Banks erupted in his next match, dealing a 16-0 technical fall to North Carolina State's Brett Farina. Banks then fell in the the next round to Cornell's Hicks Manson 10-2, ending his day at 2-2.
Hofstra's P.J. Gillespie, ranked 15th in the nation at 165 as of February 1st, won his first-round match 4-1 over NC State's Ray Ward. Gillespie's next opponent was Tom Timothy from Penn, who was already 2-0 on the day. Gillespie ended his win streak, however, claiming a 6-2 victory for the Pride. Gillespie's next opponent was also 2-0: Chris Brown of Old Dominion. Brown defeated Gillespie 4-2 in a close match.
The 2-1 Gillespie's next opponent was Tarheel Kyle Kiss, in which Gillespie eliminated Kiss with a 9-2 victory. In the 165-pound quarterfinals, Gillespie fell to Cornell's Justin Kerber. At 3-2, Gillespie's faced his final opponent, Penn's Stephen Burak, who defeated Gillespie 3-1. Gillespie finished the Southern Scuffle eighth in his weight class.
Ryan Patrovich received a first-round bye and opened competition with wins at the Scuffle over CSU Bakersfield's Daniel Montanez and Indiana's Trevor Perry, to advance to the 174-pound semi-finals.
In the semis, Patrovich experienced his first loss of the Scramble, falling 4-0 to Virginia's Chris Henrich. In consolation competition, the Pride junior lost another close contest for Hofstra. Patrovich was then set to wrestle Bagna Tovuujav of GMU, but Tovuujay was forced to forfeit, handing fifth place to Patrovich and the Pride.
The final competitor for the Pride in December's Scramble was 184-pound Ben Clymer. Clymer's first opponent was Michigan Wolverine Hunter Montoyo. Montoyo scored a 13-3 major victory over Clymer, sending him immediately to the consolation bracket. In his next match, Clymer suffered the final defeat of the Southern Scramble for the Pride, losing 2-0.
Only a few days after the tournament atmosphere of the Southern Scramble, the Pride returned to the Mack to greet a huge challenge in the form of a meet against third-ranked Ohio State. The Buckeyes had a dominant day at Hofstra, winning all but two of the seven matches, and claiming another by forfeit. When the dust settled, the scoring at the meet was 6-32 in favor of the Buckeyes.
Ben Clymer and Jonny Bonilla-Bowman salvaged victories for the Pride, with Bonilla-Bowman and as of February 1, Bonilla-Bowman is ranked 16 in the country at 157 in his senior year.
Five days later, at West Point it was a rough day for Hofstra, as West Point won the meet 9-28. Again, Bonilla-Bowman and Ben Clymer claimed victories on the day, as did P.J. Gillespie, but the Pride lost four major decisions to the Knights at West Point.
The very next day, the Pride was back at the Mack, hitting the mat against Brown and Harvard. Competing against Brown, Tyler Banks, Jonny Bonilla-Bowman, P.J. Gillespie, Ben Clymer, and Paul Snyder won their matches for Hofstra. Yet it was not enough as Brown won narrowly 18-17.
Harvard was up next, and after three straight losses, the Pride were looking to end the streak. Freshman Luke Vaith claimed a victory against the Crimson, as did Tyler Banks, P.J. Gillespie, and Ben Clymer. Paul Snyder won at 285 by forfeit giving the Pride the points they needed to end their losing streak, tying Harvard 20-20.
After their busy schedule, the Hofstra Pride finally had an all-important week of rest before the crucial CAA Duals in Fairfax, VA on January 16th. At the Colonial Athletic Association Duals, Hofstra faced Sacred Heart, George Mason, Boston University, and Old Dominion. The Pride began against Sacred Heart and had an extremely strong showing, winning their first meeting since Lock Haven at home on December 13th. Jeff Rotella and Ben Clymer both recorded falls against their Sacred Heart opponents. When all was said and done, the Pride had out-scored Sacred Heart 34-13, winning in their first head-to-head meet of the CAA Duals.
The Pride then took on George Mason, winning their meeting by a 29-12 score. With both Sacred Heart and George Mason defeated, the Pride next took on Boston University. The Pride's great day continued, as Jonny Bonilla-Bowman won his contest with another tech fall for the Pride and Paul Snyder, P.J. Gillespie, and Luke Vaith all had major decision victories against their Terrier opponents. With a final score of 23-15 in favor of the Pride, Hofstra claimed their third straight victory with only one remaining in the CAA Duals.
Hofstra's final opponent at the Duals was Old Dominion. Despite the Pride's strong showing in the morning and the afternoon, things were different at night against the Monarchs. The Pride fell to ODU 29-10, but it was the only defeat of the day for the team, as they claimed three out of four match-ups at the CAA Duals.
As was the case with the Southern Scramble, the CAA Duals were followed up by a matchup against an extremely tough opponent. This time it was 17th ranked Missouri invading the Mack to take on the Pride. Jonny Bonilla-Bowman once again ran up an impressive point total, defeating Mizzou's Patrick Wright by a 21-10 major decision while Ben Clymer claimed a narrow 4-3 victory over Todd Porter. Unfortunately for the Pride, Missouri captured wins in all other weight classes, ultimately winning the meet 34-7.
This past Sunday, the Pride saw their most recent action as the University of Pennsylvania rode into Hempstead to take on the Pride. The contest against Penn was highly reminiscent of Mizzou's visit to the Mack, as only three Hofstra wrestlers recorded victories, including a forfeit received by Jonny Bonilla-Bowman. P.J. Gillespie defeated 19th ranked Gabriel Burak by a narrow 3-2 margin and Anthony Tortora picked up a 6-2 decision over Cory Beaver, but other than that the Pride were silent, falling 31 to 12.
This weekend the wrestling team will travel upstate to take on both Binghamton and Cornell this Saturday before travelling down to New Jersey to face Rider next Wednesday. The Pride will next be wrestling at home on Saturday, February 20 against Drexel.
Jeff Rotella lost a major decision to Cesar Grajales of the University of Pennsylvania at the Mack Sports Complex. (Sean M. Gates/ The Chronicle)