SPRINGFIELD, MA- The Williams wrestling team traveled to Springfield College to compete in the 20th annual Doug Parker Invitational. Even though the Ephs have only had three weeks of practice they were able to put together a strong effort, winning the tournament by 2.5 points over The College at Brockport.
The Ephs had six wrestlers place in the tournament, four of whom were finalists. Senior Co-Captain Dylan Rittenburg and Junior Ryan Malo won their respective weight-classes. Coach DiCenzo was understandably pleased with Rittenburg and Malo’s efforts saying, "Both wrestlers were all business today and really went out and put on two dominating performances. Rittenburg did not give up an offensive point the whole tournament and Malo had 3 pins and beat his other opponent 11-0. I was very pleased with the style, confidence, and aggressiveness that Rittenburg and Malo executed today."
Ryan Malo made a very tough 194 pound weight class look very easy. Ryan shared the bracket with a returning All American and a wrestler currently ranked 8th in the country but Malo left no doubt of who the best wrestler was. Malo had two pins in the first two rounds pinning Alex Klinoff of Springfield in 1:42 and Ernie Guimano of Stevens in 3:40. He then beat Tom Voorhis of Brockport 11-0 in the Semi-finals. In the finals Malo pinned Nick Cambi of RWU (currently ranked #8 in the country) in 6:00. Coach DiCenzo though thought that the difference for Malo was his aggressive style of wrestling, which put his opponents off balance, "Ryan has been training since the end of last season at a high level and was very impressive today. I was very pleased with his physical style of wrestling and how he pushed the action for the entire match."
Rittenburg was equally impressive, defeating 6 different
wrestlers on-route to his championship. Coach DiCenzo believed that
Rittenburg’s taxing offseason conditioning program was the
key to his success saying, "Dylan came back to school this fall in
great shape and his off season work really paid off. He will be a
force at 141 this year."
The top of the Ephs lineup demonstrated the depth that will be a
hallmark of the Ephs squad this year. Three wrestlers shined. Josh
Mattana reached the quarterfinals of the 125 pound weight class,
while Ces Antista, wrestling in the 133 fell in the round of eight
to a very talented Joe Ortiz of Springfield.
Also wrestling at 133 Kaison Tanabe stood out. Kaison pinned Ortiz of Springfield in 2:39 in his first match. Ortiz would go on to place 5th. Tanabe cruised through three rounds and reached the finals. Tanabe is the first freshman finalist for the Ephs at the Springfield Invitational since Rob Quan and Glenn Pritchett in 1996. Tanabe lost in the finals to Travis Drappi of RIC 5-2. Tanabe was tied late in the third period but a scramble at the end of the match came out with Drappi on top. Coach DiCenzo said, "I am very pleased with the potential I saw today in Mattana, Antista, and Tanabe, all three wrestlers have outstanding work ethic and love to compete. If they continue to work hard we could have a great situation at the top of our lineup."
At 157, senior standout Carl Breitenstein had a great day. Carl pinned his first opponent in 1:11 and then hit a road bump in his second match. He got caught in two big move situations and lost in the second round. Breitenstein then battled through round after round winning 6 matches in a row and coming back for a 3rd place finish. Coach DiCenzo said, "Carl wrestled very well today. We always talk as a team that we are going to be faced with adversity at times and we need to step up and be excited about the challenge. Carl was faced with some today and battled back extremely well. Carl was dominating for 90 percent of the day today and I know in the next few weeks he will demand more of himself and continue to get stronger." In Breitenstein's seven wins he had 3 pins, 1 Tech Fall, and beat two returning All-Conference wrestlers.
The Ephs also benefited from strong performances by Corey Paulish (6th) Nate Shippee (2nd), Mike Hanely, and Rob Brackup. "Three of [Nate] Shippee's four wins on the way to the finals came from pinning his opponent," noted DiCenzo. After pinning Greg Tanny of BSC in 4:05, Shippee pinned Eric Schott of USMMA in the Quarterfinals in 4:22 and then pinned Brockport's Dave Manzuea in 1:18." Shippee took 2nd place losing a close match 7-3 to Brockport's Luke Pariso. "Nate was real close to winning the tournament today and competed very hard in the finals. He is going to be a tough competitor this year in the conference and nationally and has done a great job for us being a strong senior leader. I was not surprised at all by his performance today and know he will continue to work hard and get better."
Coach DiCenzo believed that the Ephs performed well in their first test of the year, “I was pleased with our team’s performance especially since we have only been practice for about 3 weeks. Many of these other teams have had been going since the beginning of October and this was there 2nd or 3rd competition and that really matters during the later round matches. Every time we have a competition date it is an opportunity to get better and challenge ourselves. Our goal is to be one of the best teams in the country and we can continue to work towards that goal by competing against good teams."
The Ephs next hit the mats in the Spartan Invitational, December 5th at York College.
FINAL TEAM SCORES
1) Williams -- 136.0
2) Brockport -- 133.5
3) Wesleyan -- 124.5
4) Springfield -- 119.0
5) Rhode Island College -- 111.5
6) Centenary -- 92.5
7) Merchant Marine -- 91.0
8) Roger Williams -- 77.0
9) Plymouth State -- 71.0
10) Stevens Inst. -- 65.0
11) Bridgewater State -- 53.0
12) Oswego -- 52.5
13) MIT -- 48.5
14) Washington & Jefferson -- 47.5
15) WNEC -- 47.0
16) Trinity -- 33.0
17) Coast Guard -- 28.5
18) Norwich -- 25
The following are the individual champions:
125 pounds -- Dan Bloom, Wesleyan
133 pounds -- Travis Drappi, RIC
141 pounds -- Dylan Rittenburg, Williams
149 pounds -- John Marsh, Bridgewater State
157 pounds -- Dan Twito, Merchant Marine
165 pounds -- Vincent Renaut, Merchant Marine
174 pounds -- Greg Hurd, Wesleyan
184 pounds -- Luke Pariso, Brockport
197 pounds -- Ryan Malo, Williams
Hwt. -- Judd Connell, Merchant Marine
