Wednesday, September 8, 2021

2022: The Preseason: Princeton Tigers

 A year off at the New Jersey Regional Training Center, five of the best wrestlers Princeton has to offer are back to do battle in the 2021-2022 wrestling season. Of these five I think three are capable of All American honors and one of being an NCAA finalist. 

125
Patrick Glory 
Junior 
Record: 54-7 
NCAA: 19'NQ, 20'6th
EIWA: 19'1st, 20'1st
MIDLANDS: 19'3rd, 20'1st 

In the 2001-2002 season Cael Sanderson entered his senior season. The talk about the wrestling message boards was who if anyone could give him a match? As it turned out Lehigh sophomore Jon Trenge was the closest he came in a 6-1 decision.  This season, the Cael Sanderson is Spencer Lee of Iowa and the Jon Trenge  is Patrick Glory.  Of all that will face Lee this season, the one I think gives him the most of a match is Patrick Glory. Having Joe Dubuque in the room beating up on him, helps me to feel confident within that prediction.  One of the many fighting tooth and nail for that spot in the NCAA finals. 

With that said he'll have challenge enough in the EIWA to win a conference title.  He's 1-1 with Vitali Arujau, having lost by fall and winning a 10-8 decision.   He should get a shot at Lee at the Midlands. 

149
Marshall Keller
Junior 
Record: 38-31
EIWA: 19'8th 

Keller has victories that suggest his abilities and capabilities to do some big things for Princeton this year. Among his wins, A.C. Headlee of North Carolina, Mike Van Brill of Rutgers and Brian Courtney of Virginia.  He has the tools to be an NCAA qualifier this season, but his EIWA bracket will be challenging.  I'm pretty positive he places in the top 8, but find it hard to see him any higher than 6th place within the conference. 

157 
Quincy Monday
Junior 
Record: 48-17
NCAA: 19'NQ, 20'NQ
EIWA: 19'3rd, 20'2nd
MIDLANDS: 19'R12, 20'3rd

Monday reminds me a lot of his brother Kennedy at North Carolina. Somedays he looks like he's capable of a high NCAA finish and other days you wonder if he'll win a match.  If on, I see Monday as good as somewhere between 3rd and 5th place at the NCAA's.  Within the EIWA he'll contend for the conference title, but he'll have Josh Humphreys of Lehigh who he is 2-3 against and Markus Hartman of Army who he is 0-1 against.  Both an EIWA title and an AA honor are within Monday's grasp, but neither is going to tolerate anything less than his best. 

165
Grant Cuomo 
Junior
Record: 24-13
NCAA: 20'NQ
EIWA: 20'WC

A win over Clay Lautt of North Carolina, what impresses me most about Cuomo is a 7-6 victory over Thomas Bullard of North Carolina State. If he can wrestle more matches like he wrestled that match, he'll open up some eyes this year.  Within the EIWA I see no reason why he can't finish 3rd.  He's not beating Zach Hartman of Bucknell or Philip Conigliaro of Harvard, but there isn't anyone else within the EIWA that Cuomo can't beat. 

184
Travis Stefanik
Junior
Record: 40-25
NCAA: 19'NQ, 20'NQ
EIWA: 19'6th, 20'6th

He has some ugly losses, but man does he have some pretty wins.  Devin Kane of North Carolina, Ben Harvey of Army, Anthony Montalvo of Oklahoma State, Nelson Brands of Iowa, Jonathan Loew of Cornell and Billy Janzer of Rutgers. I think Stefanik has proven he can beat an assortment of talent.  It's simply a matter of winning those types of matches at the right moment.  Beating Louie DePrez of Binghamton for an EIWA crown? Not seeing it at this point, but there's no reason why he can't be his opponent in the finals. 

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125 - 2nd
133 - DNQ
141 - DNQ
149 - Edge of Qualification 
157 - 3rd, 4th, 5th place
165 - NQ
174 - DNQ
184 - Low end AA,7th-8th
197 - DNQ
HWT - DNQ 


The question at this point that will be answered soon enough is how much good did that year off do for all of these guys?  










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