College Wrestling
Rider Second at Keystone Classic
PHILADELPHIA, PA—With two runners-up, three third place finishers and one fourth place finisher, the Broncs placed second of 14 teams at the 20th Keystone Classic, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania at the Palestra Sunday. “It was a good, long day,” said Rider head coach Gary Taylor. “We wrestled hard and some good things are happening.”
The Broncs finished with 92.5 points, despite not have two starters in the line-up, including no one in the 184 pound weight class. “Obviously we had two starters out who would have helped, but even without them we had a chance to win this," Taylor said.
Sixth ranked Northwestern (98 points) won the Classic. Rider finished ahead of Eastern Michigan (89), #16 Pitt (88), Indiana (83.5), Stanford (67.5) and #24 Penn (50).
Rider placed sixth at Keystone last year after placing third in both 2011 and 2012. Rider won the Keystone Classic in 2004.
For Rider junior Rob Deutsch (Cherry Hill, NJ/Eastern Regional) placed second at 133, going 3-1. In the finals against Drexel's Kevin Devoy, Deutsch lost 3-2. “That was a tough match,” Taylor said. “:Devoy is a tough kid and Deutsch initiated all of the action. We'll see him again later in the year.” Deutsch also placed runner-up at Keystone last year at 125.
Senior Chuck Zeisloft (Woodbury Heights, NJ/Gateway) placed second at 141, going 3-1. In the finals, Zeisloft lost 3-1 to Todd Preston of Harvard. Zeisloft twice placed third at Keystone.
The most impressive Bronc was freshman B.J. Clagon (Toms River, NJ/Toms River South), who placed third at 149, winning five of six matches. Clagon's only loss, by the score of 10-8, was to the defending national champion, Jason Tsirtsis of Northwestern. “A lot of people thought he had a takedown at the end that would have put it into overtime,” Taylor said. “It was a great match.”
In the battle for third place, Clagon defeated Nick Barber of Eastern Michigan 5-2. “The Eastern Michigan wrestler beat the kid from Pitt, who is ranked pretty high,” Taylor said, “and B.J. beat him solid.” Clagon won a major decision, won by fall and won by tech fall before losing in the semifinals. In consolations he won by another major over Matt Cimato of Drexel.
Freshman Chad Walsh (Cherry Hill, NJ/Camden Catholic) placed third at 157, winning four of five matches. In the battle for third place Wash defeated Brandon Zeerip of Eastern Michigan 4-3. “That win really helped us,” Taylor said. Walsh won his first two matches before losing. In the consolation semifinals, Walsh defeated Peter Galli of Stanford 7-4.
Sophomore Ryan Wolfe (New Castle, Del./Caravel Academy) placed third at 174, winning four of five matches.. In the battle for third place David Kocer of S. Dakota State defaulted. Wolfe won his first two matches before losing. In the consolation semifinals Wolfe defeated Daniel McDevit of Penn 12-11.
Sophomore J.R. Wert (Christiansburg, Va./Christiansburg) placed fourth at 125, winning three of five bouts. In the battle for third place, Wert lost 10-8 to Dom Parisi of Appalachian State. Wert lost after receiving a first round bye before pinning his first two opponents in consolations. In the consolation semifinals Wert won in sudden victory.
Senior Donald McNeil (Plainville, Mass./Wyoming Seminary) went 3-2, losing in the 197 consolations quarterfinals. McNeil, who placed fifth last year, won his first two matches, including a pin, before losing in the quarterfinals. McNeil went 1-1 in consolations.
Junior Greg Velasco (Union Beach, NJ/Keyport) lost in the heavyweight consolation quarterfinals, going 2-2 in the tournament.
Sophomore Zach Valcarce (Villas, NJ/Lower Cape May) went 2-2 at 125, winning a major decision in his first match.
Senior Andrew Reca (Robbinsville, NJ/Robbinsville) went 2-2 at 165.
Sophomore Paul Kirchner (Somerville, NJ/Somerville) went 1-2 at 141, winning by tech fall in the consolations.
Rider hosts Clarion and Penn next Sunday. “We'll take a day to heal up and then get back to work to prepare for those two tough teams, then we have Lehigh coming up who is another tough team,” Taylor said, “but so are we. Hopefully we'll keep getting better and better through the year.”
Rider Strong, Bronc Tough.
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