For the Hopkins wrestling team, the 2013-2014 season was a new beginning for everyone involved in the program. After a stellar season last year that saw the program produce All-American Paul Marcello, this season was a time for new people to fill into more prominent roles. As with all Hopkins sports teams though, the most important expectation for the season was team success; with the wrestling program, that expectation is always present.
With 14 returners to the mats and six newcomers, the program has plenty of stability between the foundation built by the returners, and the youth infused to the program by the freshmen. In his ninth season as the head man at Hopkins, Coach Keith Norris benefits from a successful program with self-motivated student athletes. Filling in the void left by Marcello will be tough, but just like any Hopkins team, this squad is certainly up to the challenge. Led by wrestlers like junior Paul Bewak and seniors Duncan Crystal, Ray Yagloski and Henry Stauber, there is plenty of talent to go around for there to be another Blue Jay on the mat in March. Excitement about the season was abundant from the start, and there is plenty more left in a season that is still young.
The Jays started the season off with an outdoor event at our very own Homewood Field in the Black and Blue Brawl. A great way to start the season, the wrestlers sent a rambunctious crowd home happy after their performances, setting the stage for a season full of excitement.
Following a 2-3 start to the season, Hopkins travelled to Hunter College in New York to take on three opponents, two of which were Centennial Conference foes. Hopkins started the day off with a match against Washington & Lee. The match began as no contest, as Hopkins took the first six bouts and jumped out to a comfortable 30-0 lead. After winning one of the final four bouts, Hopkins finished off the Generals with a 33-10 victory.
Unfortunately for Hopkins, the next three bouts would not be quite as comfortable; most importantly though, the end result remained the same.
Next up for Hopkins was NYU — the most anticipated match of the day — and it surely did not disappoint. Hopkins jumped on top quickly with a 10-0 victory, following wins by Bewak (125) and Yagloski. The main event in this matchup occurred when #10 nationally ranked Stauber (141) took on #2 Brandon Jones of NYU. A close match through and through, Jones eventually prevailed by the slimmest of margins, 6-4.
Hopkins ended the bout with NYU on top most importantly though by a final score of 22-15.
“We wrestled very well this weekend and our win against NYU was an especially good way to start out our dual-meet season. One highlight was Jared Foreman’s upset pin at 174. Its always awesome when guys can come off the bench and have an immediate impact on the mat,” Crystal said about the team’s weekend meet.
To finish the day off, Hopkins took on the host Hunter in an attempt to come away with an unblemished day. Hopkins wasted little time early by capturing a 13-6 lead, thanks to the work by Bewak, Stuaber and Crystal. Hunter, having to forfeit three more matches, never quite caught up with Hopkins in this one, and the Jays were able to come away with a 31-18 victory.
The victory capped off a 3-0 day for the Blue Jays. Bewak improved on an already excellent season by going 3-0, making him 23-1 for the season. Crystal helped his cause for the season as well by improving his record to 10-4. Four other Jays recorded a pair of victories to aid the team’s effort: Yagloski, Welles Sakmar, Jared Forman and Kyle Spangler.
After their impressive showing in the Big Apple, the Jays travel back to the Charm City to take on Centennial foe Gettysburg in Goldfarb Gym.
“As far as our future is concerned the biggest barrier to success for us is to start our matches polished and energized right from the beginning,” Crystal said. “If we can do that we are positioned to make a lot of noise in our conference, the region, and ultimately at NCAAs which is always our primary focus. Also I hope we can get a big crowd for our two home-matches this week on Wednesday and Saturday in the Goldfarb gym.”
The match takes place at 7:00 p.m. on Jan. 29 as the Jays plan on building upon their great team win at Hunter.
