Sophomore 184-pounder Nate Schiedel paced the Binghamton University wrestling team on Sunday during the WWsport/Binghamton Open at the Events Center. More than 300 wrestlers from 20 teams competed in the non-scoring tournament.
Schiedel, ranked No. 18 in the nation at 184 pounds, took second place, Binghamton’s best finish in the tournament. He lost 8-1 in the finals to Cornell University’s Steve Bosak. Binghamton head coach Pat Popolizio thought Schiedel wrestled well throughout the tournament and feels he’s close to becoming one of the best wrestlers in the country at his weight class.
‘[Schiedel] beat some pretty good guys along the way,’ he said. ‘His finals match I think was a great learning experience for him. He’s got to obviously work on some technical things, but he’s not far off from being right there with the top guys in the country.’
All-American 157-pounder junior Justin Lister didn’t compete in the tournament. Popolizio is going to monitor his mat time, presumably to keep his top wrestler fresh throughout the season.
‘[Lister’s] a guy that has a lot of experience,’ he said. ‘He doesn’t need a ton of matches this year ‘ it’s just a decision to hold him out for a few competitions.’
Senior Anwar Goeres (141 pounds), junior Matt Kaylor (165) and sophomore Cody Reed (197) all finished in third place in their respective brackets. Goeres, ranked No. 20 at 141, won his first four matches before being ousted in the semifinals 8-4 by eventual champion Zach Kemmer of UPenn. Goeres defeated Rider University’s Aaron Nestor 3-1 in the third-place match.
No. 15-ranked Kaylor fell to Cornell’s Justin Kerber, ranked No. 6 in the nation, 6-0 in the semifinals. Kerber went on to win in the finals. Kaylor beat Adam Hogue of Harvard University 8-1 in the third-place match. Reed also lost in the semifinals to the eventual champion in his weight class, losing 21-7 to Cornell’s Cameron Simaz.
Sophomore Donnie Vinson (149) and senior Ryan McGarity (174) each finished in fourth place after losing in the semifinals. Vinson was clicking on all cylinders from the outset, pinning his first two opponents and winning by technical fall in the quarterfinals. He then ran into Harvard’s Corey Jantzen in the semifinals, who beat Vinson 12-1. Jantzen lost to Cornell’s Kyle Dake in the finals. Dake won the NCAA championship in the 141-pound weight class last season as a freshman. McGarity narrowly missed out on advancing to the finals, falling 2-0 to Rider’s Rob Morrison. Sophomore Dan Riggi placed fifth in the 133-pound bracket.
The Big Red showed why it is ranked No. 1 in the nation as it had a dominant performance in the tournament, crowning eight champions. Facing that kind of competition early in the season will pay dividends for the Bearcats as the season progresses.
‘A lot of the guys that lost, lost to guys that won the tournament,’ Popolizio said. ‘Obviously having the No. 1 team in the country there ‘ [our wrestlers were] losing to quality competition.’
The Bearcats have two competitions scheduled this weekend. They will send some of their wrestlers to the Cornell Body Bar tournament, scheduled for 9 a.m. on Saturday. On Sunday, they’re set to host the Sprawl & Brawl at the West Gym, which will feature dual meets against Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University. They’re scheduled to face Michigan State at 1:15 p.m. and Eastern Michigan at 3 p.m.
‘We’re really focusing in on the two dual meets,’ Popolizio said. ‘Having Michigan State and Eastern Michigan come in here, it’s one of our goals to knock both of those teams off; they both have very good programs so we need to be ready for that on Sunday.’
Some of the team’s starters and other younger wrestlers will compete on Saturday to gain experience. However, starters who end up wrestling in the Body Bar will still compete in the Sprawl & Brawl the following day.
‘Guys that need mat time, we’re going to send them on Saturday,’ Popolizio said. ‘Sunday we’re putting our best team out on the mat. Obviously there’s team scoring at the Body Bar ‘ we’re not going there for the team title; we’re going there for individual success.’