Senior team captain Jared Forman earned his second consecutive Centennial Conference title in the 174-pound match for the Blue Jays. With three key team members unable to participate in the tournament, Hopkins finished seventh overall in the Centennial Conference Championships, tallying a team total of 27 points.
“We were missing my co-captain Alex McLaughlin (who was runner up at the tournament last year) and sophomore Isaac Morales (who was third at the tournament last year). Sophomore Ricky Cavallo had to unfortunately injury default, and he was predicted to place high in the tournament as well,” Forman said. “The rest of our line up will figure out how to win those close matches before the Regional Championship, and I expect to see a lot more guys on the podium with me come that time.”
The Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT) earned the Conference team title with 95.5 points, with Ursinus College, Gettysburg College, Washington & Lee University and the Merchant Marine Academy claiming the next four spots in the final rankings.
“Stevens did an excellent job of moving through the brackets to make sure there was never a break in the action,” Forman said. “The Centennial Conference as a whole is continuing to get better, with many of the weights now including more than one nationally ranked wrestler. This speaks to the growth of D-III wrestling, and hopefully it continues to improve, and Hopkins will be an integral part of that process.”
By defeating sophomore Ronnie Wuest from the McDaniel Green Terror by a score of 6-1, Forman became the top seed going into the semifinals.
“Most of my life, I’ve been the underdog at these kinds of tournaments, so it was a little nerve-racking to be the [first] seed and have everyone out to get me. But I just told myself to trust my coaches and trust in my training, and it turned out well for me,” Forman said.
Forman matched with previously-faced and fifth-seeded Corey Markovitch of the Ursinus Bears for the semifinal match. Earlier this year, Markovitch scored nine points to Forman’s two, defeating Forman for the regular-season victory. Despite the prior loss, Forman started and finished the match strong, pinning Markovitch in a little under five minutes.
Advancing to the championship match for his weight class, Forman faced the Gettysburg Bullets’ Dan Ebert.
Both Forman and Ebert kept the other from scoring for nearly the entire first period. Forman pulled ahead with a late single-leg takedown, earning him a 2-0 lead. Ebert responded quickly, escaping before the end of the period, making the score 2-1.
Ebert entered the second period with his newly-gained momentum, escaping yet again from a bottom position. Ebert tied the match at 2-2 at the end of the second period.
At the beginning of the third period, Forman recorded his own escape and followed with a double-leg takedown, earning another point for putting Ebert right to his back. Ebert tallied a couple of escapes but ultimately could not outscore Forman, who earned another takedown at the end of the period.
Forman took home the 9-4 Conference Championship victory, improving his overall season record to 23-12. Forman is now the sixth Hopkins wrestler to win two or more Centennial Conference titles.
“There are definitely a couple of things I [still] need to work on in order to achieve my ultimate goal of All-American status. There is always room for improvement, so I try to focus on that and fine tune my skills. Everyone in the Conference is constantly working to improve, so I continue to do that as well,” Forman said.
Along with Forman’s title, junior Tommy Grifa earned a third-place finish for the Blue Jays. Grifa had a strong start to the tournament, with an 11-4 victory against Muhlenberg College’s Ben Peck. Grifa fell to first-seeded junior Zach Wilhelm of Stevens Institute of Technology in the semifinal match.
Grifa bounced back with a victory against McDaniel College’s Clint Wright in the consolation semifinals. He finished his Conference Championship performance with a 9-3 win over Washington & Lee University’s junior Zachary Papin to seal the third-place finish.
With Forman’s wrestling career slowly coming to an end, he wants to leave a legacy of hard work and growth.
“I wasn’t anything special when I came to Hopkins nearly four years ago, I was just a kid who knew how to throw a headlock and not much else,” Forman said. “But I spent the four years working hard and listening to my coaches and teammates whenever they had advice for me, and I continued to get better. I plan on cementing this legacy by achieving All-American status at the NCAA Championships in a month to truly show that hard work pays off.”
Forman acknowledged the importance of his coaches and his teammates to his journey.
“I want to thank my coaches for always believing in me and working with me, and I want to thank my teammates for supporting me and building me up everyday,” Froman said. “Although this weekend was an individual achievement, I personally feel it was a team effort because I could not have done it without every single one of my teammates and coaches.”
The Jays will return to the mat on Saturday, Feb. 25 for the NCAA East Regional Championships.
