The Hopkins wrestling team began their most important month of the season this past weekend with a dual meet split with two nationally ranked Centennial Conference opponents. The Blue Jays, who hosted the tri-match at Goldfarb Gymnasium, started their Saturday with a narrow victory over 29th ranked Stevens Institute of Technology 21-19. In their second match of the day against 20th ranked Ursinus College, Hopkins was not able to maintain its early lead over the Bears en route to a 24-6 defeat. At the end of the day, the dual split brought the Jays record to 7-4 overall and an impressive 4-1 in the Centennial Conference.
Against Stevens, the Jays relied on the dominance of their lower weight classes in order to start strong against the Ducks. Junior Paul Bewak scored a technical fall (16-0) over freshman Rob Murray in the opening 125-pound match. Following the strong start was Hopkins senior standout Ray Yagloski, who scored a major decision (13-4) over sophomore Dillon Guarino in the 133-pound division. Fellow senior Duncan Crystal provided even more momentum when he pinned freshman John Moynihan in the 149-pound match. Capping off the early run was junior Christian Salera, who scored a major decision (4-3) against sophomore Leo Wortman in the 157-pound division. Halfway through the dual, Hopkins possessed a huge lead at 18-3.
Just when it looked as if the match was over, the Ducks were able to cut the Jays lead to two with three straight match victories. Stevens scored a major decision, pin and another decision in the 165,174 and 185-pound matches in order to nearly pull even with the Jays at 18-16.
In an extremely high-pressure match, Hopkins junior Evan Johnson scored a decisive takedown in overtime to narrowly defeat fellow junior Mark Garrity in the 197-pound match (3-1). This victory secured the match for the Jays, who defeated the 29th ranked Ducks 21-19.
The victory against Stevens was the Jays fifth win in their last six dual matches. When asked about the confidence mid-season success brings to the team, Yagloski said, “Being on the winning side of duals in the middle of the season raises the mood of the team as a whole. By winning as a team, we know the work we are putting in is paying off. We use these matches to build momentum for the ultimate goal of being at our best when the Conference, Regional and NCAA Championships come around.”
In their second match of the day, the Blue Jays were not able to overcome the 20th ranked Ursinus Bears. Hopkins stormed out to a 6-0 lead in the early going but suffered defeats in eight straight matches en route to a 24-6 loss. All was not lost in the defeat, however, as the Jays were able to score some huge individual victories in the course of the match.
The first match of the dual featured two Titans of Divisions III’s 125-pound division. In a possible preview of the National Championship final, third-ranked Paul Bewak took on top-ranked and undefeated Chris Donaldson of Ursinus. In a predictably close match, neither wrestler scored a point in the three-minute first period. In the second period, Bewak took a 1-0 lead when he scored an escape after working from the bottom to start the period. To open the third, Donaldson started from the bottom and scored a seemingly decisive reversal on Bewak to take the lead 2-1. Throughout the third period, these two battles to two stalemates and restarts in a desperate attempt to secure a victory. With precious seconds ticking away, Bewak was able to score a reversal of his own with 15 seconds remaining and held on to win the huge match 3-2.
“Every time I wrestle Donaldson, it is very close,” Bewak said. “It feels great to come out on top after working so hard in those seven minutes. It showed me some things I did wrong and what I did right, so it’s a great way to judge how I will do against other top tier opponents that I haven't seen yet this year.”
Bewak’s two victories on the day improved his season record to 26-1 on the year and brought his career record to 90-16. Bewak became the third wrestler the history of Hopkins wrestling to reach the 90-win mark. He is a mere eight wins away from matching Eric Fishel’s school record for wins and is poised to be the first Hopkins wrestler to ever reach 100 victories in a career.
Also scoring a huge victory against Ursinus was Ray Yagloski who defeated freshman Keven Hoogheem (4-1) in the 133-pound weight class for his 24th victory of the year.
The Hopkins Wrestling team next travels to Grantham, Pa. on Friday for a huge match against Centennial Conference opponent Messiah.
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