YORK, PA -- Last Saturday the Ephs traveled to York College to participate in the Spartan Invitational. The tournament, featuring three teams ranked inside the top 15 in Division III as well as top programs at the club and junior college level, presented the Ephs with a great early season challenge. On top of this challenging slate of opponents, the squad was without junior Ryan Malo who was entered in the Penn State Open. In spite of these challenges, the Ephs were able grab a 5th place performance in only their second match of the year.
Senior Captain Carl Breitenstein led the squad, defeating tenth
ranked Dan Twitto 4-2. In the semifinals Breitenstein out wrestled
Ithaca’s Will Horwath, who is ranked eighth in the country,
winning 6-3. After cruising through the opening rounds Breitenstein
finally met his match in the finals falling to fourth ranked Dan
DiColo of TCNJ 3-1.
Wrestling at 149 Corey Paulish was equally impressive. In the
semifinals Paulish defeated fifth ranked Tyler Branham, a returning
all American, of TCNJ, 12-9. In the finals Paulish squared off
against the top 149 pound wrestler in the country in Blaine
Woszczak of Ithaca. On paper this was a clash of the titans, and it
did not disappoint. Paulish wrestled well losing a bitterly
contested match, 5-4.
Coach Dan DiCenzo believes that Breitenstein and Paulish’s
efforts were steps in the right direction, “Corey and Carl
both competed very hard against national level competition today
and I was very excited to see them step up to the challenge. They
are both tireless workers that enjoy wrestling great competition.
They both need to continue to improve and I know they will push
each other and their teammates to get better.”
Dylan Rittenburg cruised through the opening rounds and did not
give up a point until the finals. In the finals Rittenburg faced
off against Jeremy Stierly of Ithaca, Rittenburg wrestled well but
ultimately fell 4-1. According to Coach DiCenzo, “Dylan
wrestled well again this weekend but was not as sharp in his finals
match. I know this match will only fuel Dylan to work hard and get
better. I am always pleased with his effort but he and I know we
let one get away from us today. Stierly is a great wrestler and I
give him credit beating a great competitor in
Rittenburg.”
On top of their three finalists, the Ephs also received strong
performances from their freshman. Ces Antista and Tom Foote both
bounced back from opening round losses and managed to secure two
fourth place performances for the Ephs. Kaison Tanabe, battling
illness was still able to wrestle well, going 4-2 on the day good
enough to capture fifth place. “I was very impressed with how
our freshman wrestled today”, said Coach DiCenzo,
“especially Antista, Foote, and Kaison Tanabe. All three
wrestlers really enjoy competing and showed great poise and
toughness to win as many matches as they did.”
Nate Shippee, wrestling at 184, and Josh Mattana, wrestling at
125, exhibited the depth of the Ephs lineup. Both of whom went 4-2
defeating many strong wrestlers on their way to fourth place
finishes.
Coach DiCenzo wrapped up the weekends tournament saying,
“Overall I was very pleased with how we wrestled and more
importantly how we enjoyed competing against good competition. We
went down to this tournament to challenge ourselves early in the
season and I thought it was another big step in the right direction
for our program.”
Penn State Open
The Ephs were undermanned at the York Invitational because 197
pound wrestler, Ryan Malo, competed in the Penn State Open. The
tournament consisted of 10 of the top 25 teams in Division I. Coach
DiCenzo explained his decision have Malo compete in the tournament
by saying, “We entered Ryan in this tournament so he could
continue to challenge himself. It worked out great that State
College was very close to York. We did not feel he would have as
tough bracket at the Spartan Invitational as some of our other
wrestlers so we wanted to get him even stronger
competition.”
Malo was unfazed by the challenge. He quickly pinned his first two
opponents, Ryan Gray of Maryland and Luke Macchiaroli of Penn
State. In this third match of the day Malo found himself up against
Micah Burak of UPenn. Burak is new to UPen after spending two years
at the Olympic training center. Malo quickly found himself in an
early hole but was able to stage a spirited comeback. In the end
Malo came up a point short falling 4-3. In the consolation bracket
Malo beat Boston University’s Rocky Mantella 5-3. Malo was
then able to use this momentum to make short work of Andrew
Brentzel of Pitts-Johnstown, pinning him in only thirty seconds.
Malo’s 6th match of the day was a spirited battle against
Andrew Delaney of the Citadel. The score was 8-7 in the third
period when Malo and Delaney got in a great scramble on the feet.
After a 30 second fight for points Delaney got the takedown and won
the match.
Coach DiCenzo was pleased with his junior’s effort saying,
“I was very impressed with how well Malo was able to compete
this early in the season against strong competition. The wrestlers
at the Division I level have about a month and half start on us and
this was only his second competition of the year. Ryan has big
goals for himself and the team and he is willing to challenge
himself against the best in the country. He and Carl have been
invited to participate in the Midlands Championships hosted by
Northwestern and we really feel this weekend will set them up to be
successful. Ryan knows he can continue to make gains and get better
and knows this will be important if he wants to take the next
step.”
The Ephs next hit the mats in a quad meet at WPI on Saturday
December 12th. Action begins at 12 noon.
