Gonzales Leads Terriers To Fourth Place At Keystone Classic
November 20, 2004 | Men's Wrestling
RESULTS (PDF)
PHILADELPHIA - Senior Rayes Gonzales (Las Vegas, Nev.) won at 149, and senior Joey Rivera (Stroudsburg, Pa.) at 141 and sophomore John DaCruz (Ludlow, Mass.) at 197 both placed second, leading the B.U. wrestling team to a fourth-place finish at the 10th Annual Keystone Classic at the Palestra on Saturday, Nov. 20.
Rider University ran away with the team title with 141 points. Host University of Pennsylvania was second with 105.5 points. American University was third (89.5 points), followed closely by Boston University (88).
Gonzales, seeded second at 149, won each of his four matches, besting top-seeded Sam Alvarenga of VMI, 4-2, in the title match. After receiving a bye into the quarterfinals, he won his next two matches by fall - the first in 5:03, the second in 5:09. His third victory was a tight 3-2 decision in overtime to Rider's Labe Black in the semifinal.
Rivera, the No. 1 seed at 141, defeated each of his first three opponents before meeting second-seeded Don Fisch of Rider in the title match. Fisch won the match, 6-5, denying Rivera his second tournament title in a row. He won the Empire Classic title at 141 last week.
DaCruz continues to wrestle well early in his sophomore season. After a first-round bye, the second-seeded DaCruz made quick work of his first two opponents, earning a 10-1 decision and a fall in a tournament best 23 seconds over Duke's Mark Thompson in the 197 semifinal. Top-seeded Marcus Schontube of Penn ended DaCruz's run with a 10-4 victory in the 197 final.
Other Terrier wrestlers to do well were junior Justin Blumenthal (Madison, Wis.), who finished fourth at 157, junior Greg Politi (East Hanover, N.J.), who won the fifth-place match at 165, and senior Courtney Howard (Sitka, Alaska), who, at 285, also earned a fifth-place finish.
The Terriers next wrestle at the Penn State Open on Saturday, Dec. 4.
