The Centennial Conference Tournament and the entire wrestling season is now a matter of record, and the Jays enjoyed a number of highlights. One stands out in particular.
"It was nice to beat McDaniel," senior 141-pounder and co-captain Marco Priolo said.
"I loved beating McDaniel," sophomore 197-pounder Tyler Schmidt said, unsolicited.
The Jays closed an up-and-down season with an exclamation point, earning third place behind Muhlenberg and top finisher Ursinus, who won the tournament for the fifth consecutive year. Hopkins wound up with 61 points. McDaniel had 50 points, good for fourth.
But why do the Jays relish tackling the Green Terror so much? Maybe it's because McDaniel and Ursinus have been trading conference championships since 1994 when Centennial wrestling began (Muhlenberg broke up the monotony in 1995 with their lone championship). Maybe it's because the Jays have historically struggled against McDaniel, beating them last season for the first time since 1995 (and again this year). Maybe the Jays don't like green and yellow.
Or maybe it's personal.
"They're pretty unsportsmanlike characters, so it's very satisfying to beat them," Schmidt said.
Schmidt is referring to one particular instance when McDaniel made a highlight video consisting mostly of takedowns during their dual meet versus Hopkins. The video, made available for public consumption on both YouTube and the Maryland Wrestling Forum Web site, had plenty of footage of McDaniel's slick moves against Hopkins complete with smarmy animated text reading "Nice Toss!" and "Go behind c9 easy two," among others.
"They made it look like they beat us up," Priolo said, "even though we beat them pretty bad."
So the Jays took it out on them on the mat. En route to their third place title, the Jays boasted one conference champ, three silver medals, a third- and a fourth- place finish. Junior 184-pounder Eric Fishel was the star Blue Jay of the tournament, parlaying his No. 1 seed into a championship and an NCAA Tournament bid.
Fishel tore through his weight class in commanding style, notching a first-period pin against his first-round opponent, Gettysburg's Dean Staley, and never let up. He took a major decision against No. 5 seed Max Courtney of Washington & Lee, 12-4, to bring him to the title bout against the second seed, Harry Keyser of Ursinus. Fishel had pinned Keyser during the teams' dual meet, giving him plenty of confidence going into the match. Keyser made it a little harder on him by not turning over, but not too much harder. Fishel gave up only one point, earning a dominating 7-1 victory and the individual title.
Priolo and Schmidt both put points on the board for the Jays, earning second place finishes in their respective weight classes. Priolo had high expectations for the tournament, knowing anything but a championship would mean the end of his college career.
As the No. 2 seed, he breezed through the first two rounds with a pin in 1:45 and a second-period technical fall to reach the final. But his quest for the championship ran through Muhlenberg's Rob Kein, the top seed. Kein beat Priolo 6-4 earlier in the season, presenting the Jays' co-captain with a daunting task. Too daunting, in fact: Kein took the match 5-2.
"It's disappointing. I don't know what to say," Priolo said. "I had plans to be an All-American. Now it sucks to not get a chance to go out there."
But hope isn't entirely lost for the Hopkins single-season wins record holder. He made the NCAA Tournament as an alternate, but his competing rests on the possibility of another wrestler going down with an injury.
Schmidt had similar results, but a completely different outlook. He finished above his No. 3 seed, making it to the championship match. But he was pitted against one of the tournament's top wrestlers, Muhlenberg's Matthew Loesch. Loesch took the match and the title by a score of 11-3.
"I'm pretty pleased with my performance. I wrestled the way I should have," Schmidt said. "Matt Loesch is a tremendous athlete [and] he's conference champ now. But the road is cleared for me next year."
Unfortunately for the Jays, though, the Green Terror did exact some success from them. Red shirt senior, co-captain, and top-seeded 174-pounder Dave Kraus had to settle for second place after being upset by McDaniel's Andrew Winfield, the No. 2 seed. Winfield had previously lost to Fishel at 184 earlier in the season, but he cut weight to become a formidable wrestler at 174. He topped Kraus by a score of 10-3.
Others to earn points for the Jays were junior Jim Crumlish, who took third at 157, and senior Jonathon Freeman, the fourth-place finisher at 285. By the time the final hand was raised, Hopkins earned 61 points and its highest finish since taking third in 2003.
This finish was the closest Hopkins has ever come to the top spot. Ursinus won with 85.5 points, interestingly enough without a single individual champion.
Fishel still has work to do for the NCAAs, but the rest of the team has next season to look forward to.
"We're a losing a few key seniors this year [Priolo, Kraus and Freeman], but we have a big recruiting class this year," Schmidt said. "We had 11 wrestlers sign in Early Decision."
But luckily for Schmidt and the other underclassmen, at least one familiar face will be around to help lead the team to an even better finish in 2008.
"I'm planning on coming back to coach next year," Priolo said. "I'm not ready to leave."
