Wrestling Drops Three Facing Tough Competition at Buckeye Duals
January 10, 2000 | Men's Wrestling
By Peter Charbonneau Senior Program Assistant
The Boston University wrestling team decided not to take the easy road ushering in the new year.
Travelling to Ohio State for the Buckeye Duals January 8, the young Terriers faced some tough competition, falling to the Buckeyes, Clarion University and Eastern Michigan University.
"We knew we were wrestling good competition," head coach Carl Adams said after his team fell to 1-3. "We also felt we had a good enough team to win all three matches if we had wrestled great."
The Terriers, wrestling with five freshmen, opened the meet on a positive note against Clarion as freshman Jose Leon (Santa Ana, CA) scored an 11-3 major decision over Mike Snyder at 125 pounds. Snyder is a former Junior College National Champion runner-up. BU went on to take three of the first four matches against the Eagles, capped by junior Malik Elliot's (Park Forest, IL) 9-3 decision over Stan Spoor at 149 pounds.
"Malik had a really good weekend," Adams said.
Unfortunately, Clarion took five of the final six matches to win, 24-16.
Ohio State, unoffically ranked 33rd in the country, was BU's next opponent. Inexperience and injuries took their toll on the Terriers as the Buckeyes took the match, 27-10.
"Injuries and inexperience told the story of the weekend," said Adams. "But, we certainly had some positives as well."
Leon was one of those positives, scoring a hard-fought 2-1 decision over Kore Sharpley to open the Ohio State match.
"Jose wrestled great," said Adams. "He defeated the Junior College National Champion Runner-up (Snyder), and he also beat a really good Ohio State wrestler."
Against the Buckeyes, freshman Mike Messina (Smithtown, NY) scored a 3-2 decision over Tariq Seifullah at 133 pounds and sophomore Ali Abri (Ashland, VA) posted a major decision against Nick Stepanovich, 13-5, at 174 pounds for the other Terrier victories in the match.
BU closed out the day by falling to Eastern Michigan University, 29-10.
"That was the one match we really didn't wrestle well," said Adams. "But again, our guys were pretty banged up."
Adams singled out freshmen Chad Grant (Eaton Rapids, MI) and Ed Strauss (Macungie PA) for their efforts over the weekend.
"Grant wrestled pretty well," the coach said. "He came in as a walk-on and was actually winning his match against Ohio State."
Strauss did not win a match, but Adams thought he wrestled well coming off an injury.
While the Terriers were 0-3 for the weekend, Adams saw plenty of positives. "I think we saw what we need to do to get better," he said. "We're going to keep getting better, this is a young squad. We just need to keep the positive things in mind. We know where we are and we also know where we could be."
Clarion 24, Boston University 16 125 - Jose Leon (BU) maj. dec. Mike Snyder, 7-4 133 - Peter Aguado (BU) win by forfeit 141 - Mark Angle (C) maj. dec. Keith Borgaro, 16-1 149 - Malik Elliot (BU) dec. Stan Spoor, 9-3 157 - Shane McChesney (C) maj. dec. Jay Holder, 10-1 165 - Kevin Brown (C) dec. Zak Emond, 8-4 174 - Brad Harris (C) dec. Ali Abri, 7-2 184 - Chad Grant (BU) dec. Aaron Mitchell, 7-4 197 - Jesse Shirley (C) dec. Ed Strauss, 3-1 Hvy - John Testa (C) dec. Fred Wong, 5-3
Ohio State 27, Boston Universtiy 10 125 - Jose Leon (BU) dec. Kore Sharpley, 2-1 133 - Mike Messina (BU) dec. Tariq Seifullah, 3-2 141 - Josh Daugherty (OSU) maj. dec. Peter Aguado, 11-0 149 - Brian Roskovich (OSU) dec. Malik Elliot, 3-2 157 - Josh Janson (OSU) dec. Chris Simmons, 3-2 165 - Joel Walker (OSU) dec. Zak Emond, 9-4 174 - Ali Abri (BU) maj. dec. Nick Stepanovich, 13-5 184 - Donovan True (OSU) pinned Chad Grant, 1:39 197 - Nick Preston (OSU) maj. dec. Ed Strauss, 17-2 Hvy - Tony Sylvester (OSU) dec. Fred Wong, 8-3
Eastern Michigan 29, Boston University 10 125 - Claudell Ruffin (EMU) dec. Jose Leon, 3-2 133 - Peter Aguado (BU) dec. Josh Wiles, 6-2 141 - Brad Trostel (EMU) pinned Keith Borgaro, 6:51 149 - Malik Elliot (BU) maj. dec. Matt Schraibman, 12-3 157 - Chris Simmons (BU) dec. Harold Eastman, 4-1 165 - Tim Hoff (EMU) dec. Zak Emond, 4-2 174 - Mike Feeney (EMU) fall Ali Abri, 2:33 184 - Travis Kraft (EMU) dec. Chad Grant, 5-3 197 - Dane Bonnigson (EMU) maj. dec. Ed Strauss, 12-4 Hvy - Derrick Parker (EMU) maj. dec. Fred Wong, 8-0
