Tim Pyne
tipyne@ursinus.edu
There truly is nothing like debuting in your sport with the support of your home crowd. And what a weekend it was for the 2019 Bears wrestling team. All the hard work in the weight room and on the mats was showing as the Bears hosted the 2019 Fall Brawl on November 9th. The wrestling team showed out in their second tournament of the season and by the looks of it, it could be a very good season for the Bears.
Wrestling is not just a sport for these athletes. It represents a whole lot more for each and every one of them. The brotherhood and comradery that this team has pays off in their success on and off the mats. Led by coach Joe Jamison and captains Freddy Corradetti and Derek Gulotta, the Bears lean on and compete for each other in order to achieve their common goal of winning in each and every tournament. The Fall Brawl tournament showed other schools in the area that the 2019/2020 Bears are a force to be reckoned with. After an individual title the previous week at the season-opening Messiah Invitational, Terry Adams, a rookie wrestler, racked up another championship title for the second weekend in a row. Another Bears rookie, Shawn Marchesano, accompanied Adams in taking home a championship belt for the Bears at the Fall Brawl. The futures for these two rookies look extremely bright. Adams states that “The kind of impact I think I have is a motivational one. With my success and my hard-working attitude, I can show that it really is all about hard work and it motivates the guys to push themselves.” The two freshmen are forming into a leadership role as the Bears will definitely look to lean on them in the future and use them as assets to take home many more championship belts this season.
The Bears also had three other place-winners at the Brawl with sophomore Gary Nagle (174) and junior Jason Carter (197) taking third and junior Ray Calderaio (133) finishing fourth.
The mentality for Bears freshmen Adams and Marchesano is truly impressive for college wrestling newcomers. Their winning and team-first mentality truly has an impact on the way they and their teammates perform. Adams, who clinched the championship at the 125-pound weight class was a dominant force on the mat in his path to his second victory of the season. The rookie posted two pins, a tech fall, in his path to victory at the Fall Brawl. Adams encountered Elizabethtown’s Austin Jones whom he defeated in just 2:17. Adams also defeated Johns Hopkins’ Brent Lorin in the semifinals by a point difference of 16-5. Adams explains that “winning my second championship was very cool and made me want to win more especially wanting to win more belts and eventually a national title.”
Marchesano, another rookie Bear, dominated the 149-pound bracket on his path to claiming the second championship belt for the Bears. Marchesano commenced his championship run of the Fall Brawl by shutting out Elizabethtown’s Shane Strausser 16-0. After a pin and a 12-7 victory, Marchesano defeated Delaware Valley’s Evan Widing by a 4-0 margin. Marchesano states that “it felt amazing to win my first championship, also it felt very motivating, it makes me want to work harder to better myself and to become the best wrestler in the country.”
The Bears wrestling team will look to build up to their centennial conference matches that begin in January. “We just have to keep the momentum going. We have had a strong couple of weeks so far and everyone’s getting more confident in their skills and ability which is helping in the long run” Adams says. If the Bears continue the way they are, they surely will peak at the right time and be a dominant force in the conference.