UB Open Preview

Note:  I will list the UB wrestlers that are expected to compete in the UB Open and some of the other top contenders for UB Open Championship.  There are teams and individuals that will register on Saturday evening and Sunday so this is by no means a list of all the best wrestlers at the tournmants.  This preview only includes pre-registered individuals.  Of course there will be some scratches and additions the day of the tournament.  Also, all UB Wrestlers will be competing unattached.

125

UB Entrants – Taylor Golba, Max Soria, Mike Soria, and Sean Walton

Other Top Contenders – Rocco Rosso (NCCC – Nationally Ranked), Kory Mines (Edinboro – 2X Ohio State Champion), Kyle Crisafulli (American International – 4X NY State Finalist), Brian Dean (Nortre Dame College – OH State Champion), and Anthony Marino (Bloomsburg – Multiple Time PA State Place Winner)

133

UB Entrants – Justin Farmer and Kevin Smith

Other Top Contenders – Ian Paddock (Ohio State – Ranked Top 10 in the Country), Dante Rini (Norte Dame College – All-American), AJ Schopp and Mitchell Port (Edinboro – both PA State Champions), Jake McCombs – OH State Champion), and Kyle McGregor (NY State Champion)

141

UB Entrants – John Crisafulli and Andrew Schutt

Other Top Contenders – Tyler Savage (Notre Dame College – 2X All-American), Luke Vaith (Hofstra), Marty Carlson (Notre Dame College – 3X State Champion), Cody Ruggirello (Hofstra – NY State Champion and Multiple Time Place winner), and Randy Languis (Ohio State – OH State Champion)

149

UB Entrants – Rickey Bronson, Desi Green, James Loomis, Wally Maziarz, and Josh Micek

Other Top Contenders – Jeff Pelton (Notre Dame College – National Champion and 3^rd), Sean Nemec (Ohio State – Nationally Ranked), Austin Primus (Notre Dame College- 3^rd Place Finish at Nationals), AJ Milanak (Gannon – All-American), Drew Leonard (Kent State), Mike Fee (Ohio State), Anthony Salupo (Lehigh – 2X OH State Champion), and David Habat (Edinboro – OH State Champ and 2X Finalist)

157

UB Entrants – Matt Dehney, Kris Duge, and Mark Lewandowski

Other Top Contenders – Colt Sponseller (Ohio State – Ranked Top 10 in the Country), Thomas Straughn (Notre Dame College – National Champ, 2X All-American), Bryce Busler (Bloomsburg – FILA Junior All-American), Marshall Giovannini (American International College – 2X All-American), and Nick Terdick (Hofstra – NY State Champion)

165

UB Entrants – John-Martin Cannon, Frank Day, and Pat Brady

Other Top Contenders – Jared Kusar and Kirk Tank (both of Ohio State), Zack McKendree (Gannon – All-American), Ron Tetreault (American International College – All-American), Jared King and Kevin Hardy (Notre Dame College – both National Qualifiers), and Troy Ireland (NCCC – Nationally Ranked)

174

UB Entrants – Ron Majerus and Brian Sheehan

Other Top Contenders – Cody Butzer and Jon Bittinger (Notre Dame College – both were All-Americans), Tony Petrella (Gannon – All-American), Terry Bret (Gannon – National Qualifier), Matt Cunningham (Finger Lakes Wrestling Club – PA State Champion and 2X Finalist), and Nick Heflin (Ohio State – OH State Champion and 2X Finalist)

184

UB Entrants – Jimmy Hamel, Kyle Smith, and Zach Ward

Other Top Contenders – Alex Denman (Notre Dame College – All-American), Pete Capone (Ohio State), Billy George (Finger Lakes Wrestling Club – 2X NHSCA High School National Champion), Kadeem Samuels (Lehigh), Luke Pariso (Brockport – Nationally Ranked), and Jake Burge (Notre Dame College – 2X NC State Champion)

197

UB Entrants – Tyler Peter and Josh Peters

Other Top Contenders – Derek Foore (Notre Dame College – National Champion), Cody Magrun (Ohio State – Nationally Ranked), Nate Gaffney (Edinboro – PA State Champion), and Jace Bennett (Finger Lakes Wrestling Club – TX State Champion)

285

UB Entrants – Brett Correll, James Donner, and Mibo Aiono

Other Top Contenders – Orlando Scales (Notre Dame College – National Finalist), Lukasz Stala (Cornell), Mike Horton (Edinboro), Zeal McGrew (Hofstra)

We are looking forward to a great tournament!


Coach Beasley

UB vs Boston Dual Meet on LiveSportsVideo - FREE!

Tonight's matchs vs. the Boston University Terrier's will be broadcast on LiveSportsVideo.com beginning at 6pm.  This is a FREE event.

Please follow the link below to access the video. Thanks to LiveSportsVideo for streaming tonight's event.

Bulls vs. Terriers

GO BULLS!

Commemorative Parker Cap for Cancer Research

UB Athletics Unveils Commemorative Parker Cap To Assist In Cancer Research

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo Division of Athletics, in conjunction with the creativity and benevolence of the New Era Cap Co., has created a UB hat that honors the legacy of former UB wrestler Jeff Parker, who tragically lost his fight against cancer this past May.

The Limited Edition Jeff Parker UB 5950 hat will be available for pre-order starting today on UB's website with all net proceeds from sales going to the Jeff Parker Foundation and cancer research. A limited edition of 1,000 hats are available for pre-order and will be shipped in early January. 

The cap is made of 100% wool with a royal blue crown and visor, and features a purple satin lining and custom purple embroidery, authentic Jeff Parker silhouette on the side and "JDP" initials on the back with the word "Hope" intertwined. Parker, UB Class of '08, was a former UB wrestling captain and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Vice-President who inspired everyone he met in both his native Boston, MA and in Buffalo with his tireless work ethic, gregarious spirit and love of both wrestling and the University at Buffalo.

Parker earned the Male "Ideal Bull" Award upon completion of his career and was an outstanding student-athlete who proudly wore the Blue and White. An Academic All-MAC selection and SUNY Chancellor award winner, he won 73 matches for the Bulls while competing from 2005-08. He was originally diagnosed with skin cancer in the Spring of 2009, and similar to his wrestling career, fought the disease with enduring passion before succumbing on May 22, 2010.

The UB Division of Athletics wishes to extend sincere thanks to New Era for the generous donation of the first 500 hats as well as their vision to honor one of UB's finest. Steve Maciejewski, a former UB track and field athlete who served on the SAAC board with Jeff, was instrumental in both the creation and the donation of the hat by New Era.

"Being a student athlete at The University at Buffalo meant the world to me," said Maciejewski, the Project Coordinator for College Strategic Business. "I feel it is only right to express my gratitude through New Era and have this awesome concept and idea available to everyone who knew Jeff and support his cause.

"This project means so much to me because it was an idea that I tackled as soon as I started my job," Maciejewski said. "Being able to pair with different designers, managers, and finally our CEO Chris Koch to put this project together gave me insight about how our business works and how especially generous they are. I am so grateful that New Era has taken this idea in with open arms and has backed it 100%.  It truly shows why they have been around for as long as they have and why their better days are still ahead."  

PURCHASE YOUR JEFF PARKER COMMEMORATIVE CAP HERE

Mid-Week Update - 2 days until Season Opener!

Team Update from Coach Beasley: 


The team is doing very well. We are healthy and ready to go for Friday. We fly-up to Boston Thursday night and compete on Friday evening. Everyone of the 10 starters weights are right where they should be today. We are looking forward to seeing some of the UB Wrestling family that live in the greater Boston area, such as, the Parker's, the Ragusa's, the Sheehan's, the Hamel's, the Dehney's, the Larcey's, the Shannon's, etc. The team will have a pre-match workout at the Natick High School Wrestling Room (Hamel's high school) between 1-3PM on Friday.

It should be a great match and a very good weekend for UB Wrestling.

Preview of Season Opener

Friday we have our first competition of the season as we take on the Boston University Terriers.  We are looking forward to opening out season with a bang.  We are glad that we are able to wrestle at Boston as both of our fifth-year seniors are from the Boston area in Massachusetts (Jimmy Hamel from Natick and Brian Sheehan from Lowell).  We are excited to be able to get these two young men in front of their home crowd.

Boston has one of the best teams they have assembled in years.  I am going to take a guess at Boston’s line-up and of course, you never know who will wrestle until they step on the mat.  I have not found their wrestle-off results posed anywhere so it is hard to say who will be on the mat.  The rankings I am going to use in the preview are the new www.intermatwrestle.com rankings.

125 – Taylor Golba vs. BJ Suitor – Suitor is a true freshman and a huge recruit for BU last year.  Suitor was a three-time Michigan State Champ that finished his high school career with a 224-5 record.  Keys to the match for UB:  Taylor will wrestle with a lot of confidence at a high pace.  Taylor’s collegiate experience and determination will be the difference here for the win.

133 – #14 Kevin Smith vs. #20 Fred Santiate – Santiate finished in the top 12 at the NCAA National Tournament last year and had a big win over NCAA Champion Troy Nickerson.  Both Kevin and Santiate are redshirt juniors.  Keys to the match for UB:  Kevin will look to use his size, strength, and stamina to beat the very tough Santiate in what is on paper the match of the night.

141 – Chris Conti vs. Ian Squires – Squires is a redshirt freshman and saw limited action last year as he only wrestled in two tournaments early in the season.  Squires was a much herald recruit for BU.  Keys to the match for UB:  Chris will need to stay offensive on his feet and get ahead early in the match.  Squires when behind in a match tends to get sloppy trying to make-up ground and Chris will look to run-up the score.  Watch for Chris to get on a roll and start racking-up a lot of points.

149 – #11 Desi Green vs. Nestor Taffur – Taffur is a sophomore at BU and had the third most wins on their team last year with 17 wins on the season.  Keys to the match for UB:  Desi is looking to kick off his season on a high note and score many takedowns.  He holds the single season takedown record at UB and wants to get a bunch of takedowns in the match that he should dominate.

157 – Mark Lewandowski vs Nick Tourville – Tourville is a true freshman for BU and was a Minnesota State Champion last season.  He has good low shots and solid position.  Keys to the match for UB:  Mark will look to dominate this match with heavy hands and outstanding mat wrestling.

165 – #17 John-Martin Cannon vs. Kyle Czarnecki –  Czarnecki is a sophomore that had the forth most wins on the team last season.  Keys to the match for UB:  Cannon should dominate the match with a variety of attacks.  It’s the Cannon Show!

174 – Brian Sheehan vs. Hunter Meys – Meys is a redshirt sophomore who was an NCAA national qualifier as a true freshman.  This is an interesting match as Sheehan has made huge strides in the last year.  Meys is the favorite on paper but Brian will surprise him and win in one of the most exciting matches of the night in front of his hometown crowd.  If you were unable to watch wrestle-offs this year, you should go out of your way to watch the match.  Brian is always looking to score and is fun to watch wrestle.  Keys to the match for UB:  Brian will need to neutralize the freakish strength of Meys.  Brian should set a high pace and wear down Meys, who only competed in three matches last year.  The longer the match goes on, the brighter Brian will shine.

184 – #16 Jimmy Hamel vs. Bran Crudden – Crudden transferred into BU this year after graduating from his undergraduate degree at Brown.  He was one of Brown’s best wrestlers last season as he placed 2^nd in the Keystone Classic and placed at the EIWA Tournament.  Keys to the match for UB:  Jimmy has had an outstanding week of practice and is excited to put on a show in front of a lot of friends and family.  He should control the entire match.

197 – Josh Peters vs. John Hall – Hall was an NCAA National Qualifier in 2009 and redshirted with an injury in 2010.  This is a great opportunity for Josh (as he moves up from 184 pounds) to establish himself as one of the elite 197 pound wrestlers in the country.  Keys to the match for UB:  I’m calling for the win from Josh in an upset.   Josh needs to wrestle with confidence here.  He needs to wrestle at a high pace as Hall has not wrestled a match in almost exactly a year.

HWT – Brett Correll vs. Kevin Innis – Innis is a true freshman at BU after placing in the New Jersey State Championships twice and being a two-time high school All-American.  Keys to the match for UB:  Brett will be on the attack early and often.  He will be looking to score from every position and dominate the freshman.

Our goal in the dual is to dominate and win all 10 weight classes.  That is a very tough challenge; as you can see Boston has a very talented team.  Of course, I am confident in all 10 of our starters and expect them to win.