Saturday, January 9, 2021 – 5 p.m.
Rider Broncs (0-0) vs. Binghamton Bearcats (0-0)
Location: Vestal, NY
Live Video –
AmericaEast.TV
Live Twitter Updates –
Twitter.com/RiderWrestling
What You Need To Know
- The Rider University wrestling team opens the 2020-21 season on Saturday at Binghamton.
- Rider's top returner, 2020 NWCA All-America First Team honoree
Jesse Dellavecchia began his collegiate career with the Bearcats before transferring to Rider.
- Dellavecchia is ranked third by Wrestlestat and fourth by Trackwrestling, Intermat and Flowrestling at 157 lbs. Dellavecchia became Rider's first-ever MAC Champion at 157 lbs. in 2020, defeating nationally-ranked wrestlers Larry Early (Old Dominion) and Jarrett Jacques (Missouri) to earn the title. As the No. 4 seed at NCAA's, he was honored as an NWCA First Team All-American. He was named Clair Bee Rider Male Athlete of the Year after posting a 30-2 record.
- Rider returns a pair of national qualifiers this season in Dellavecchia and
Ethan Laird, both of whom have qualified in each of the last two years. Laird is slated to move from 197 to the heavyweight class this season. He's ranked as highly as No. 9 by Wrestlestat and also comes in at No. 13 (Intermat), No. 14 (Trackwrestling) and No. 20 (FloWrestling). He finished second at 2020 MAC Championships, was named an NWCA Scholar All-American and posted a 24-7 record, going 10-4 in duals and compiling a 7-1 mark in MAC duals. Laird earned three wins over wrestlers ranked in the Top 25 – Jake Jakobsen (Lehigh), Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State) and Michael Beard (Penn State).
- The Broncs are ranked 24
th in the national tournament rankings by WrestleStat and Intermat, as well as 25
th by FloWrestling and Trackwrestling.
- Also ranked individually are
George Walton at 184 lbs. and
Jonathan Tropea at 125 lbs. Walton comes in at No. 24 (Trackwrestling), No. 25 (FloWrestling) and No. 26 (WrestleStat) after posting a 24-10 record last year, including marks of 10-5 in dual matches and 6-2 in MAC duals. He placed fourth at MAC Championships. Tropea is ranked No. 26 by Trackwrestling. He went 20-14 as the Broncs' starter at 125 lbs. last season, including an 8-7 mark in dual matches. He went 4-2 to finish fourth at MAC Championships.
- The remaining six spot in Rider's projected starting line-up are filled by two transfers, two returners and two true freshmen.
Jake Silverstein (Nebraska) will wrestle at 165 lbs., while
Matt Correnti (Rutgers) slots in at 197 lbs. Correnti is the brother of former Broncs heavyweight
Mauro Correnti.
Richie Koehler returns to the starting line-up at 133 lbs., while redshirt freshman
Wyatt McCarthy and redshirt junior
Travis Layton will compete at 149 lbs. True freshmen
McKenzie Bell takes over at 141 lbs., while fellow first-year Broncs
Angel Garcia and
Shane Reitsma will compete at 174 lbs.
- Binghamton's top returner is NWCA All-America First Team honoree Lou DePrez, who was seeded fourth at 184 lbs. at NCAA's last year and was EIWA Champion. He had a 26-5 record, including six wins against Top 10 wrestlers, according to WrestleStat.
- Rider won the 2020 MAC East Division Championship with a 7-1 record against league foes, including a 6-0 mark against its East Division foes.
- A Rider wrestler has achieved All-American status on 17 occasions, including 15 different wrestlers. Current assistant coach
Ryan Wolfe, along with
Chad Walsh, were the last Broncs to earn All-American in 2017.
- Rider earned a statement victory over then-No. 6 Minnesota on Nov. 15, 2019.
