Plagued by injuries. Outdueled in matches. Discouraged by performances.
The resume was not particularly inviting for the Boston University wrestling team entering the Winter Break. After losing junior Ed Strauss to mono and Ben Shillings to an injury, head coach Carl Adams knew he needed to change his lineup around to fill the void left by these grapplers.
Despite these obstacles, the Terriers threw together an impressive showing in their three matches during the past month. Led by dominating performances from senior Ali Abri and junior Jose Leon, BU posted a 2-1 record to begin its conference schedule. The Terriers scored victories over the State University of New York at Binghamton (Dec. 8) and Sacred Heart University (Jan. 12), with their lone loss coming against Colonial Athletic Association powerhouse Hofstra University (Jan. 6).
BU overcame injuries to sophomore Leighton Brady and freshman Rayes Gonzales to open the dual-match portion of its schedule with its first victory of the winter hiatus against Binghamton. Leon and fellow junior Mark Laramee led the Terriers with winning decisions at the 125-pound and 141-pound weight classes. Leon took care of David Hockenberry, 23-15, while Laramee defeated Joe Gartiser, 16-7.
Sophomore Ben Schilens battled through his own injury to pin Ron Foster in 4:05 at 165-pounds.
While Abri participated in the Wilkes Tournament (Dec. 29-30), the rest of the Terriers received some much-needed rest before returning to competitive action during the first week of 2002. But as quickly as it garnered its first taste of a conference victory, BU had it taken away just as swiftly. The Pride dropped the Terriers for a 34-6 loss as they grabbed only two victories during the matchup.
Abri and Brady were the only bright spots, with the senior captain beating Ralph Everett, 5-3, at 174 pounds and the second-year man disposing of James Scanlan, 8-2, at 157 pounds.
“We only came into the match with eight players, and we hadn’t wrestled as a team in nearly a month,” Adams said. “Hofstra has been doing really well of late, and we were battling the likes of a top 20 team. We were simply outdueled and outperformed.”
But less than a week later, the Terriers were the ones outdueling and outperforming the opposition. This time, it was Leon and Abri propelling BU to a convincing 31-13 win over Sacred Heart this past Saturday.
Leon led the Terriers early on, pinning his opponent less than two minutes into the match. Abri followed suit by winning his match in 4:34.
Other notable BU grapplers included Laramee, who took away an impressive 9-2 decision, as well as junior Jason Holder and senior Chad Grant, who tallied victorious decisions in the 157-pound (8-5) and the 184-pound weight class (15-3), respectively.
BU will look to lick their wounds clean when they take on Springfield College tomorrow night before embarking on a difficult upcoming schedule. Beginning Jan. 19, BU will face a slew of top-notch wrestling squads over the following few weeks, including Brown University, Army and Boston College. If The Terriers want to continue their success from the CAA, Adams knows he will need each member of his club to heal from his respective injury and contribute immediately.
“We have a good team, we just need to get people healthy,” he said. “I’ll be very confident once everyone is in the lineup.”
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