Keystone Classic

[Nish67]

Drove to Philly yesterday with 3 of my friends to watch the Keystone Classic. If you live on the East Coast and want to watch our wrestling team in action, this is the event you should go to. There are 12 teams participating so there's not enough locker room space. Instead each team settles in a section of the stands. As fans, you get to sit amongst the wrestlers and actually talk to them between matches. Shelton Mack and Tyler Wilps are two very engaging guys, ones you are proud of as alumni. Hardest part is to see the disappointment etched in someone's face after a tough loss. As a special bonus we got to sit with Coach Stottlemeyer and Mr. Bonaccorsi so we had a running dialogue as each wrestler got on the mat. Probably the most confusing thing for us was understanding the out of bounds calls. There were times where it was obvious the controlling wrestler had at least one foot in the ring but still ruled out of bounds. Takedowns or escapes were not credited as a result. Looked like it was more of a judgment call on the part of the refs versus a purely technical call. Lots of backups got a chance to wrestle so we got a glimpse of the depth on the team. Disappointed not to see Edgar Bright and Max Thomusseit wrestle but easily a great time.

 

[goalieman]

Article .......

from the Pitt website .... see link ......

http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/sports/m-wrestl/recaps/112413aab.html

 

[singregardless]

Good stuff. Soaking in Rande's thoughts had to have been cool. Reminds me of the last two years at the EWL championships, where the athletes tended to mix with the fans. Definitely a different vibe in wrestling, which is part of its charm (for me at least).

Looking at the FloWrestling videos, it's easy to see why some upsets happened:

Good - Mack's speed and hand work & Wilps clearly having the best post-season on the team as far as conditioning is concerned - which is great because he's always left me with the feeling his base talent could take him up another level

& Bad - Racciato was truly poor on top vs. Busler, Zanetta didn't make an assertive offensive move against Teraro until late 2nd.

What did you (or Mr. Bonnacorsi for that matter) take away from the Bonnacorsi/Fox matchup? Just a poor match? Rattled by a controversial loss to Mattiace earlier in the day? Does he lack the fluidity he had at 174? I was taken back a bit when I saw the result of that one.

I'm going to get out to see them in their 1st ever ACC match on the 6th, in what will hopefully be the start of a ACC title season.

 

[Nish67]

Sorry but I missed both Bonnacorsi matches. I really wanted to see the Mattiace match since he's a North Jersey wrestler, my area, and prepped a year at Blair, but hunger pangs sent us out for lunch. On Mack and Wilps, I was really impressed with both. Mack is cat-quick off the mat. Some of his takedowns were like explosions from nowhere. Wilps has the swagger of a winner. He fits that look you get when you see one of the elite guys on the mat. Don't know if that's a new level of confidence for him this year since I've never seen him, or anyone on the team for that matter, this up close and personal. Zanetta's loss was disappointing but that guy was also cat-quick. Don't know his background but he's really good. I thought Morelli showed a lot as well even though he didn't get far in the tournament. He's our guy at 165. Don't think Cody is wrestling this year.

 

[mike412]

I was disappointed with Zanetta's tournament. I understand why he took a redshirt year, but I think he could have won the title at 125 last year. So far this year, however, he seems out of form.

Is Cody being redshirted because of the injury? Hard to believe Morelli could beat him out at 165. If and when Garbinsky comes back at 157, with the addition of Rizzo I think we should be pretty solid. Only real weak weight class is 141, but Bright hasn't wrestled yet.

Wonder where PJ will wrestle when Rizzo becomes eligible. He told me he weighs 206 now but could easily drop to 197 or 184.