Written and reported by Dave Ritterpusch
This past weekend, March 5 & 6, 2011, seven former Blair wrestlers qualified automatically for this year’s NCAA championships by virtue of winning three individual championships and taking four high places in major NCAA qualifiers.
In the course of this successful weekend, Kellen Russell, wrestling for Michigan, won his 3rd Big 10 title -- in 3 attempts – and was named the Big 10 tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.
USA #1 Kellen Russell remained undefeated in this his red-shirt junior year -- despite wrestling in arguably the toughest conference weight class in America. Five of the USA’s top six 141 lb wrestlers are in the Big Ten, and Kellen has beaten each of the other four this year, some more than once -- albeit almost always in close matches. His title match at the 2011 Big Ten’s was a classic that displayed his exceptional wrestling skills to good effect.
Blair’s two other champions from the weekend, Ed Ruth and Cory Peltier, each helped his team win its conference’s tournament. Ed Ruth, a red-shirt freshman at Penn State, won the Big Ten title at 174 lbs, as the Nittany Lions defeated the defending champ Iowa Hawkeyes by a single point for Penn State’s very first Big 10 wrestling title. Note: Penn State has been in the Big 10 since 1991. Before that, most years it was in the EIWA (Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association).
Cory Peltier’s title came at 184 lbs in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) tourney and helped Coach Kerry McCoy’s Maryland Terps score a decisive upset over pre-tournament favorite Virginia Tech. All told, Maryland had five ACC champs and won going away, with three titles in the last five championships and an impressive 12- point margin of victory.
At EIWA’s three Blair wrestlers qualified for the NCAA championships as Penn’s Rollie Peterkin took 3rd at 133 lb, Rutger’s Marion Mason took 3rd at 149 lbs and Princeton’s Garrett Frey took 5th at 125 lbs. Aside: To place 3rd, Mason, the 5th seed, beat two wrestlers who had defeated him over the previous month. Moreover, his only loss came to an NCAA defending champ. Given the strength of the 149 lb class at EIWA’s, it seems likely that Mason will get a strong seed at NCAAs.
In addition, Sean Boyle took an impressive 4th at 125 lbs in the Big 10’s for Michigan, beating USA #9 Brad Pataky of Penn State 9-5 along the way.
Note: Cornell’s Mike Grey, an older brother of Blair junior Mark Grey, who himself is already a 3-time National Prep Champ, won EIWA’s at 133 lbs. Mike is just returning from a knee injury that had kept him out of action this season.
Blair at NCAAs Over the Years
The following facts are taken from “The Standard of Excellence,” the fully illustrated “8 ½ x 11” hardcover book just published about Blair’s “Legendary Wrestling Program.” (You can order your own copy of this wrestling classic from the Blair book store by clicking on the photo of the cover of ”The Standard of Excellence” on the first page this site, “blairwrestling.com”).
The success of Blair wrestlers at NCAAs is legendary, and far exceeds that of any other high school program in America, especially in terms of the number of individual NCAA championships and top 3 places won.
Starting with Mike Lieberman’s NCAA crown in 1975 for Lehigh, Blair wrestlers have captured 12 NCAA Division 1 titles, with the most recent being Mark Perry’s 2nd title in 2008 for Iowa.
Along the way, Blair wrestlers have captured 49 NCAA All American places so far, of which an unparalleled 65 % (32 of 49) have been top 3 places.
In terms of the most memorable individual years -- of many -- the two classic years have been 1979 and 2005. In 1979 Blair had its first double NCAA title year, as Lehigh’s Mark Lieberman and Iowa State’s Kelly Ward won NCAA titles. In addition, fellow Blair National Prep champ Randy Miler placed 7th for Clarion.
Then, in 2005 Blair again had two NCAA champs, Oklahoma State’s Zack Esposito and Steve Mocco, as well as a 3rd NCAA finalist, Iowa’s Mark Perry, who went on to win NCAA crowns the next two years.
All told, Blair had 8 wrestlers at the 2005 NCAA Div 1 championships and they went on to win 30 matches and score almost 100 team points, roughly half again as many as Iowa or Iowa State.
Besides the three finalists, Esposito, Perry and Mocco, Blair had a very strong 3rd at the 2005 NCAAs from Cory Cooperman, wrestling for Lehigh. In fact, because of his numerous bonus point wins, Cory scored more team points than did several NCAA 2nd place finishers that year. And Matt Palmer had one of his two 8th place finishes for Columbia.
In addition, eventual NCAA finalist Kurt Backes (Iowa St) and Robbie Preston (Harvard) and Nate Gulosh (Navy) each had wins at the 2005 NCAAs and each scored team points.
Taking only the top Blair wrestler at each wt, i.e, no Gulosh, because he was at Cooperman's wt, and no Palmer, because he was at Perry's weight in 2005, had Blair wrestlers been under the Blair banner, they would have finished 2nd at NCAAs in 2005, behind only Oklahoma State, which itself had two Blair NCAA champs that year.
"You can look it up, " as the scribes say.
This past weekend, March 5 & 6, 2011, seven former Blair wrestlers qualified automatically for this year’s NCAA championships by virtue of winning three individual championships and taking four high places in major NCAA qualifiers.
In the course of this successful weekend, Kellen Russell, wrestling for Michigan, won his 3rd Big 10 title -- in 3 attempts – and was named the Big 10 tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.
USA #1 Kellen Russell remained undefeated in this his red-shirt junior year -- despite wrestling in arguably the toughest conference weight class in America. Five of the USA’s top six 141 lb wrestlers are in the Big Ten, and Kellen has beaten each of the other four this year, some more than once -- albeit almost always in close matches. His title match at the 2011 Big Ten’s was a classic that displayed his exceptional wrestling skills to good effect.
Blair’s two other champions from the weekend, Ed Ruth and Cory Peltier, each helped his team win its conference’s tournament. Ed Ruth, a red-shirt freshman at Penn State, won the Big Ten title at 174 lbs, as the Nittany Lions defeated the defending champ Iowa Hawkeyes by a single point for Penn State’s very first Big 10 wrestling title. Note: Penn State has been in the Big 10 since 1991. Before that, most years it was in the EIWA (Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association).
Cory Peltier’s title came at 184 lbs in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) tourney and helped Coach Kerry McCoy’s Maryland Terps score a decisive upset over pre-tournament favorite Virginia Tech. All told, Maryland had five ACC champs and won going away, with three titles in the last five championships and an impressive 12- point margin of victory.
At EIWA’s three Blair wrestlers qualified for the NCAA championships as Penn’s Rollie Peterkin took 3rd at 133 lb, Rutger’s Marion Mason took 3rd at 149 lbs and Princeton’s Garrett Frey took 5th at 125 lbs. Aside: To place 3rd, Mason, the 5th seed, beat two wrestlers who had defeated him over the previous month. Moreover, his only loss came to an NCAA defending champ. Given the strength of the 149 lb class at EIWA’s, it seems likely that Mason will get a strong seed at NCAAs.
In addition, Sean Boyle took an impressive 4th at 125 lbs in the Big 10’s for Michigan, beating USA #9 Brad Pataky of Penn State 9-5 along the way.
Note: Cornell’s Mike Grey, an older brother of Blair junior Mark Grey, who himself is already a 3-time National Prep Champ, won EIWA’s at 133 lbs. Mike is just returning from a knee injury that had kept him out of action this season.
Blair at NCAAs Over the Years
The following facts are taken from “The Standard of Excellence,” the fully illustrated “8 ½ x 11” hardcover book just published about Blair’s “Legendary Wrestling Program.” (You can order your own copy of this wrestling classic from the Blair book store by clicking on the photo of the cover of ”The Standard of Excellence” on the first page this site, “blairwrestling.com”).
The success of Blair wrestlers at NCAAs is legendary, and far exceeds that of any other high school program in America, especially in terms of the number of individual NCAA championships and top 3 places won.
Starting with Mike Lieberman’s NCAA crown in 1975 for Lehigh, Blair wrestlers have captured 12 NCAA Division 1 titles, with the most recent being Mark Perry’s 2nd title in 2008 for Iowa.
Along the way, Blair wrestlers have captured 49 NCAA All American places so far, of which an unparalleled 65 % (32 of 49) have been top 3 places.
In terms of the most memorable individual years -- of many -- the two classic years have been 1979 and 2005. In 1979 Blair had its first double NCAA title year, as Lehigh’s Mark Lieberman and Iowa State’s Kelly Ward won NCAA titles. In addition, fellow Blair National Prep champ Randy Miler placed 7th for Clarion.
Then, in 2005 Blair again had two NCAA champs, Oklahoma State’s Zack Esposito and Steve Mocco, as well as a 3rd NCAA finalist, Iowa’s Mark Perry, who went on to win NCAA crowns the next two years.
All told, Blair had 8 wrestlers at the 2005 NCAA Div 1 championships and they went on to win 30 matches and score almost 100 team points, roughly half again as many as Iowa or Iowa State.
Besides the three finalists, Esposito, Perry and Mocco, Blair had a very strong 3rd at the 2005 NCAAs from Cory Cooperman, wrestling for Lehigh. In fact, because of his numerous bonus point wins, Cory scored more team points than did several NCAA 2nd place finishers that year. And Matt Palmer had one of his two 8th place finishes for Columbia.
In addition, eventual NCAA finalist Kurt Backes (Iowa St) and Robbie Preston (Harvard) and Nate Gulosh (Navy) each had wins at the 2005 NCAAs and each scored team points.
Taking only the top Blair wrestler at each wt, i.e, no Gulosh, because he was at Cooperman's wt, and no Palmer, because he was at Perry's weight in 2005, had Blair wrestlers been under the Blair banner, they would have finished 2nd at NCAAs in 2005, behind only Oklahoma State, which itself had two Blair NCAA champs that year.
"You can look it up, " as the scribes say.
