After taking his first team to the celebrated tournament as a head coach, Buckley likes it even more.
"Wrestling here is a great experience," he said, a few days after his Columbia wrestling team went 2-2 at the 2006 Virginia Duals, defeating West Virginia and UC Davis. "This is a historic tournament. It and the National Duals are the only tournaments where teams advance, as a team, in an elimination format."
And Buckley truly appreciates the dual meet format.
"Dual meets really capture the excitement of college wrestling," the Andrew F. Barth Head Coach of Wrestling said. "Everyone is working to get the pin, or to get bonus points, in order to help their team. You don't always see that in tournaments."
Columbia fans saw exactly that in all four of the Lions' matches at the Duals, especially the 20-16 victory over West Virginia. After taking an 11-3 lead over the 20th-ranked Mountaineers, Columbia saw its margin dwindle to two at 11-9.
But junior Dustin Tillman (Fremont, Calif.), coming off an injury which had sidelined him for most of the season's first two months, defeated Eric Mullen, 4-2 at 165 pounds, and junior All-American Matt Palmer (Germantown, Md.), still hurting from an injury, gamely fought to a 7-3 victory over Kurt Brenner at 174. Another junior, Justin Barent (Worland, Wyo.), gave the Lions their third straight victory when he edged Chance Litton, 4-3 on the riding time point.
West Virginia needed bonus points, but could gain only one when first-year 197-pounder Orrin Kleinhenz (Columbus, Ind.) fought off Jarred Villers again and again. The WVU wrestler earned an 11-3 major decision, but Columbia clinched the match with a 20-13 lead.
"The victory over West Virginia came just when we needed it," Buckley said. "It provided our team with the opportunity to realize their potential. You could see the light go on in their eyes as the match went on.
"We were aggressive, we stepped up to get bonus points, we showed that we can hang with the best in the country."
Although fielding a lineup that included only five regular starters, Columbia nearly staged an upset in its first encounter of the tournament. Wrestling fourth-seeded Tennessee-Chattanooga, the Lions battled back from 16-3 and 19-6 deficits to pull within 19-13 when Barent converted two sparkling headlocks into five-point moves and defeated John Davis at 184, 12-9 (after trailing, 8-2), and Kleinhenz won a 17-9 major decision over Lloyd Rogers at 197.
Prior to this week, Buckley would have been forced to forfeit the heavyweight bout, as all three contenders have missed the entire season with injuries. Instead, he sent out junior John Grando (Pueblo, Colo.) and the converted 184-pounder nearly caught Israel Silva before dropping a 5-3 decision in the 22-13 defeat.
Wrestling to stay alive in the consolation bracket that afternoon, Columbia faced a formidable foe in UC Davis, ranked third in the Pac-10 and coming off two hard-fought matches at Iowa State and Arizona State.
Although they are roughly 3000 miles apart, Columbia and UC Davis are keen rivals, and both coaches expected a close match.
"I coached at UC Davis," Brendan Buckley explained, "and Jeff Sato, our captain, wrestled there before transferring to Columbia. We also come up against Davis when we recruit in California. We often recruit the same people."
The Lions jumped out to a 10-0 lead over the Aggies, but it wasn't easy. Senior Jeff Sato (Pismo Beach, Calif.) at 125 and junior Matt DeLorenzo (Wantagh, N.Y.) at 133 both won decisions by close margins, Sato by 6-4 over Marcos Orozco and DeLorenzo by 4-3 over Omar Gaitan. First-year Sal Tirico (Lodi, N.J.) celebrated his collegiate debut — he had been injured earlier — with an 11-0 major decision over Nexi Delgado at 141.
UC Davis came back to within 10-6, only to see Dustin Tillman, another Californian (Fremont), hit a takedown with 19 seconds to go to upset Frank Richmond, 9-8. But Davis took two more, one a major decision, to tie the match at 13-all.
Two "newcomers" pulled it out for Columbia. Orrin Kleinhenz, a former Indiana state champion, posted a 13-5 major decision over Elliot Kelly at 197 to give the Lions a 13-5 lead, and Grando, the brand-new heavyweight, a Colorado state champion, led Evan Hendrix most of the match before dropping a 4-3 decision. By not allowing any bonus points, he gave Columbia a 17-16 victory.
"Both Orrin and John did a good job for us," Buckley said.
Columbia dropped its final match to Drexel, 21-15. The Dragons burst out to a 6-0 lead on victories over Sato and DeLorenzo, and Columbia never caught up. The Lions were set back when Matt Palmer aggravated an injury and had to default to Nick Kozar at 174, giving Drexel an 18-6 lead.
Columbia refused to yield. Justin Barent had a fall at 184 and Kleinhenz won a 7-3 decision, bringing Columbia within 18-15, but Grando fell by 4-1 to Drexel standout Chris Cowen.
Tirico continued his fine wrestling with an 8-2 decision at 141, and Dustin Tillman improved his tournament record to 4-0 with another decision.
And Buckley reflected on the difference one week can make.
"A week ago, we lost to American," he said. "That was a wakeup call for us. We completely redesigned our practices to work even harder. The team we put out in the Virginia Duals? It was like two different teams."
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now