HokieCW

Sonny Amato was then upset in the semifinals of the NJ state tournament during his sophomore year. He lost to a kid he had beaten twice in the preceding two weeks (once at Districts and then at Regions). The latter win was a major. This article describes what he went through (mostly mentally) to get through a disappointing weekend. Would have been easy to pack it in. But, he didn't.

He won NJ states in 2024 as a freshman. Check out his finals' match (dark singlet). Take note of the move (jonesy tilt) just before the 1:30 mark. He's been described as a bit "funky". Definitely doesn't wrestle like a freshman. Huge upside potential. If this kid could spend some time with Andonian....

If you want to see him in action, here is a link to the Delbarton (#8) vs. Blair (#9) dual meet from a week ago yesterday. (Jan 30) Jump to the 1:15:00 mark. Interestingly, Delbarton wrestlers that have committed to a school wear the headgear of that college, so James is wearing VT. It's also his 100th high school win, so they have a photo op after the match. He's a cool cat....takes it all in stride. Doesn't get overly excited....just takes care of business. He's also wearing flashy yellow Nikes (similar to Caleb). I like his style. If you like high school wrestling, this is a great dual. Blair has an Iowa commit at 120 and a PSU commit (wrestling up at 190). Delbarton also has a Lehigh commit at 138. Tom Brands was in attendance watching his 120 commit as Iowa was relatively nearby at PSU the following night. The dual comes down to the final match. Pat Glory (Princeton 2023 NCAA champ at 125 and Delbarton grad) is one of the announcers. He pretty much loses it during the heavyweight match he's so excited. High school wrestling at its best...

I’ve watched Connor wrestle dozens of times and am as excited as everyone else to have him a Hokie! He was one of the most improved wrestlers I have ever seen as he really struggled his first two seasons where we went 15-17 with two NCAA appearances at 141 (went 0-4). But, he was clearly undersized. His junior year, he dropped down to 133 (actually swapped with the Lehigh 133 pounder who went up to 141) . Connor was a completely different wrestler and seemed so much more comfortable at the lower weight. Entering the conference (EIWA) championships in 2023, he was ranked #5 in the country behind RBY, Fix, Arujau and McGee (who he lost a heartbreaker to 8-6 in a late season dual meet). He was 11-2 in duals with his only loses to Fix and the aforementioned McGee. He had wins over Phillippi (Pitt) and Orine (NC State). He had a very realistic shot at AA. But, in the first period of the EIWA quarterfinals, he blew out his knee with one of the most gruesome injuries I have ever seen. It was gut wrenching. He had to be carried off in the arms of one of the assistant coaches. And, as mentioned, he couldn’t beat out Ryan Crookham last year and I suspect Crookham is set at 133 for years to come. Connor is ferocious on top and has improved a lot on his feet. I felt so bad for him in March of 2023 as he was wrestling so well….hoping he can finish out his career in style in March of 2025!

They had a really rough year. After having a NC and 3rd place finisher in 2023, which propelled them to a 13th place team finish, they fell off the map this year. Both of those place winners graduated and their coach fled to Stanford. This year, they were just 8th in their conference (EIWA) and only qualified 3 guys for NCAAs. Those guys went 3-6 (0-3 in the championship bracket) and were done on Friday morning. They scored 3.5 points and finished 46th. Granted, it looks like they had a decent recruiting class last year. Combined with their wrestling tradition and being an Ivy and the fact that Princeton is a great college town, maybe it’s more attractive than I originally thought. Lot of upside, that’s for sure.

BA was firmly planted there....this one not quite as clear.

https://osubeavers.com/staff-directory/chris-pendleton/2644

** Edited by HokieCW at 3/22/2024, 3:19:19 PM

Multiple people say he was moving his limbs….its from Twitter, so take it for what it’s worth. But, definitely a very scary situation. ** Edited by HokieCW at 3/21/2024, 5:36:17 PM ** Edited by HokieCW at 3/21/2024, 5:41:15 PM

Sam has wrestled Colaiocco from Penn twice in the last two years including a 5-4 loss at the Midlands at the end of December. Colaiocco is a senior and 4 x NCAA qualifier. He was one of the top high school wrestlers coming out of Blair Academy and has probably fallen shy of (very high) expectations. But, he's a tough kid. This year, he's lost to the #2 seed, 4-2 and the #4 seed 9-8. At 285, Stoddard from Army is a freshman. He's lost 4 straight matches and 6 of his last 8. After going 7-1 in January, he's regressed late in the season. Would be disappointing if Hunter cannot get by him.

Super impressed by the way the Hokies wrestle the final seconds of a period. Against UNC, five different VT wrestlers had TDs in the last 15 seconds of a period. Outscored UNC 15-0 in that time. You see a lot of guys just run the clock out looking forward to the next period. Really like our aggressiveness...

Stanich is a true freshman, so they are 3 years apart. They wrestled about 18 months ago in the "Elite 8" Duals when they were both in high school and top ranked Forrest won. Scoreless match in the 2nd period and Forrest converted a TD into a cradle and pinned Stanich.

Should be an interesting matchup. McGonagle had a gruesome knee injury in the EIWAs last March, so didn’t wrestle at the NCAAs. But, up to that point, he was having a terrific season (likely a top 5 seed). He’s only wrestled once this season and he lost to his teammate (Ryan Crookham) in a tournament (in SV). Crookham went on to beat #1 Vito Arujau from Cornell in the finals. So, Crookham has jumped into the top 3 of most polls while McGonagle is now unranked. (Polls won’t rank two guys from the same team). He’s a tough kid who has improved remarkably since his freshman year, so it should be a good match.

It all gets settled on the mat....Army vs. Campbell Nov. 1st at Ft. Liberty (formerly Bragg) and Army vs. American on Feb. 25th at West Point.

PSU has 4 falls and 3 majors…that’s 11 points right there vs. just a single major for the Hokies (1 point). As a comparison, NC State has 6.5 bonus points. But, as others have pointed out, the real scoring starts tomorrow with advancement towards top 8. But, those bonus points (or lack of them for us) can make a difference when all is said and done.

that is dual meet scoring (3 team points for a win)….very different scoring in tournaments. 1 point as you advance through the championship bracket and .5 for advancing through the consolation bracket. Then additional bonus points for fall, tech fall and major. And, then finally points for placing in the top 8.

Lehigh coach - Pat Santoro - recently described post season wrestling tournaments this way and it is so true. One minute you are watching what Eddie did (wedding) and then a tough loss for Caleb (funeral).

3 straight matches where our guys look nothing like themselves.