Competing against 500 wrestlers from all over the country, the Boston University wrestling team posted 17 victories and 20 losses in the Nittany Lion Open, hosted by Penn State University on Saturday.
“With 500 to 600 kids competing, it’s one of the top tournaments,” said BU coach Carl Adams. “Given the teams that compete – Michigan State, [the University of] Pennsylvania, Virginia Tech, University of Pittsburgh, Penn State – it’s a very, very tough tournament.”
A few Terriers proved to be very, very tough themselves. Sophomore Joey Whitaker finished with a record of 5-2 and finished in the top eight in the 141-pound weight bracket. He was joined by freshman teammate Carlos Farrandino, who finished 3-2 after being defeated by Whitaker.
“We got a really good showing from Whitaker and Carlos,” Adams said.
“Overall, I felt I did well,” Whitaker said. “I wrestled a lot of tough matches. I didn’t do as well as I would have liked, but it’s one of the toughest tournaments we’ve been to.”
Whitaker found hitting the mat with his own teammate a little strange at first, but the feeling didn’t last long.
“It was a weird situation with him especially,” Whitaker said. “But we already wrestled at a tournament this year. We grew up with each other, since the fifth grade, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. We’re used to it.”
The Terriers also benefited from a surprise performance from freshman backup Bryan Matsurra in the 125-pound class. Matsurra, who took the place of injured rookie teammate Joshua Statum, finished 2-2 on the day, prompting accolades from his coach.
“Matsurra wrestled very well,” Adams said. “We saw some good things.”
Four Terriers – seniors Justin Blumenthal (157) and Jason Bakanowski (165), redshirt freshman Chris Tripp (174) and true freshman Orey Hall (285) – finished the open tournament with a pair of victories.
Although some of the Terrier wrestlers performed well, the bigger story may be who didn’t compete. Along with Statum, senior Tom Sforza, junior John DaCruz and redshirt freshman Mike Roberts were all sidelined with injuries.
The thumb injury Roberts sustained at the Keystone Classic on Nov. 20 – a tournament where he took second place at 149 pounds – kept the wrestler that Adams considers to be the team’s best off the mat Saturday.
“Right now, we’re a little banged-up,” Whitaker said. “We’ve got some minor injuries.”
After finishing first at the Roger Williams Invitational Nov. 12 and fifth at the Keystone Classic, BU’s finish on Saturday may seem disappointing, but considering the number of wrestlers missing, Adams remained optimistic about the team’s performance.
“It’s hard to gauge when you have four players not in the lineup,” Adams said. “It’s tough to win matches at all, and we didn’t have four players.”
Adams said he looks at this tournament as a learning experience for his younger players, as well as a chance to see how his team stacks up against tougher opponents.
“We need to work,” Adams said. “It’s good to gauge where you are and where you need to go to compete. It’s a good gauge [to use] to jump to the next level.”
“If everyone can get 100 percent healthy and continue to improve, we can reach a lot of our goals,” Whitaker said. “We can become one of the solid teams in our conference.”
The Terriers will next compete at the Wilkes Open on Dec. 28 at Wilkes University.
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