MOMENT OF TRIUMPH: Princeton University Eligh Rivera has his arm raised in triumph after a win last year. Over the weekend, junior star Rivera took second at 149 pounds at the prestigious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Another Tiger junior, Ty Whalen, took third at 165 at the Keen Invitational. Princeton is currently on break and will return to action on January 4 when it has duals against Lock Haven and Hofstra in Albany, N.Y. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
By Justin Feil
Battling on two fronts last weekend, the Princeton University wrestling team gained momentum heading into a long break from competition.
Eligh Rivera and Ty Whalen picked up podium finishes at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on December 6 while six teammates were place-winners at George Mason’s Patriot Open on December 7 in Fairfax, Va.
“Guys are starting to make those adjustments that we’ve been working on early in the season,” said Princeton head coach Joe Dubuque. “This gives them a little bit more feedback on the things that they’re doing well and then the things that they’ve got to work on.”
Rivera and Whalen were the highest finishers from a young group that went to the Las Vegas event, the premier meet in the country in early December. The junior standouts put together great runs through stiff competition. Rivera, who was ranked 22nd nationally at 149 pounds, knocked off third-ranked Lachlan McNeil of Michigan in the quarterfinals, 4-3, then downed fourth-ranked Jacob Frost of Iowa State, 11-4, to reach the finals, where he lost to Jaxon Joy of Cornell to take home silver.
“Eligh made a huge breakthrough,” said Dubuque. “He’s had small breakthroughs throughout his career, but this tournament, I think, was telling for him beating two All-Americans in the same tournament, kind of solidifying that, the first one wasn’t just kind of like a fluky match. Putting back-to-back good performances together, I think, is probably going to give him a lot of confidence.”
Whalen won his first couple of matches by technical falls at 165 pounds, then edged Aiden Riggins of Iowa State, 5-3, in the quarterfinals before falling narrowly to national No. 4 Joey Blaze of Purdue, 4-2. That loss pushed him into the consolations, but he defeated Columbia’s Cesar Alvan, 6-4, in the semifinals there and then dominated Riggins in a rematch, 11-2, to earn the bronze medal.
“Ty’s always been kind of the model of consistency, and dropping a close one to the fourth-ranked kid in the country and that’s your only loss of the tournament, I think also gives him confidence that, I’m right there with, one of the title contenders,” said Dubuque. “Why not me, why can’t I be a title contender this year? And I think he absolutely can be, and I think he is.”
Princeton had several others compete in the Cliff Keen meet. Marc-Anthony McGowan won his first two matches before a one-point loss in the quarterfinals and then a consolation-round loss ended his bid to medal at 125. Ethan Rivera lost to the top seed at 133 pounds and the fell in a consolation bout. Jake Mann competed at 141 pounds and Kole Mulhauser went 1-2 at 184 pounds with his first loss a one-point decision.
The next day at the Patriot Open, Princeton had six wrestlers place. Drew Heethuis (133 pounds), Gavin Hawk (157), and Sebastian Garibaldi (heavyweight) all secured fourth place. Dale O’Blia (125), Chris Martino (149), and Rocco Camillaci (157) each took sixth place.
“Guys got some really good matches,” said Dubuque. “We really try to be strategic on who would benefit the most from going out to Las Vegas and then who would also benefit the most from going to George Mason. As coaches, we’re still trying to figure out probably three weight classes. So we basically sent four guys down to George Mason at the same weight wanting them to figure it out in competition. So, I think overall it was a good day of competition.”
The Tigers have only four seniors on this year’s roster, with Mann being the only senior who appeared at Cliff Keen, but there’s a lot of confidence in the group’s potential. The roster brings the rare combination of passion for both the mat and the classroom.
“It’s probably the best the culture has ever been in Princeton wrestling,” said Dubuque. “The best in regards to I would say majority of our team, like probably 95 percent of them love Princeton, love the Princeton academic experience, love the Princeton experience, but then also love wrestling and they want to be All-Americans and want to be national champions.”
Among their young wrestlers this year is a local product. Princeton High School graduate Blasé Mele is a freshman at 149. He was hurt in their Princeton Open, but returned to the mat for the Patriot Open. He won by major decision before falling in the quarterfinals and consolations.
“He’s coming along,” said Dubuque of Mele. “Just like any true freshman, they have their growing pains and the areas that they need to really focus on and improve on, but overall his attitude is great, he’s a great worker, he’ll come in with anybody for an individual session. He’ll be bugging the coaches to get an individual drill. So I feel like he’s going to hit his stride and he’s going to have a breakthrough, whether it’s next month or this year or sooner. So I’m excited for the progress that Blasé has made.”
The Tigers will not compete again until they compete in Albany, N.Y., on January 4 in duals against Lock Haven and Hofstra. They follow that with the F&M Open and then Lehigh in their final non-conference meet before opening the Ivy League schedule by hosting Columbia on January 23.
“That block of time when we come back from Christmas before we compete up in Albany is going to be a really good training phase and a really good technical phase,” said Dubuque. “Me and the coaches are going to meet and really put together some things that we see as a whole that we really need to improve on and then just kind of break down weight by weight what each guy needs to kind of focus in on and make adjustments.”
Princeton has started the dual meet season 1-3 with a pair of narrow losses. After hosting their Princeton Open, the Tigers traveled to then-No. 19 Pittsburgh and almost pulled off the upset before falling, 20-19. After a win over Appalachian State, they suffered a loss at West Virginia and then a
21-19 loss to Northwestern at home.
“The one word that comes to mind that makes me frustrated is inconsistency,” said Dubuque. “We come away from a match at Pitt where they’re ranked 19th in the country, they’re a good team, we performed great and we wound up losing the dual in kind of heartbreaking fashion. But basically my speech to them was like, you did everything we talk about. It’s about how you perform. It’s about how you wrestle. If you wrestle to the brand and to the expectation that we have, you’re going to give yourself and the team the best chance to be successful.”
Northwestern was another close loss, but the Wildcats did not have the ranking of Pitt. Princeton is hoping
it can grow from that disappointment and use it for motivation.
“Guys who performed well the week prior didn’t perform that well the next week,” said Dubuque. “So that’s what I’m trying to get these guys to get into their routines and making sure that they’re doing the things the right way, the same way on a consistent basis.”
The encouraging thing is the culture piece that Dubuque references. The Tigers have a lot of talented wrestlers competing for spots in the lineup, and many of them are on the younger side and have room to develop. Princeton can be uplifted by seeing the success of someone like Whalen last weekend.
“He started off just a little slow this year just because getting used to the weight jump, going from 149 last year, now you’re up two weight classes, to 165,” said Dubuque. “Him just kind of getting used to his body being a little bit bigger. It’s funny, we were talking right before the tournament and I was like, man, you look fast and strong. And that was something we said to each other before each match, go out there and be fast and strong.”
It was a similar story for Eligh Rivera. He had a challenge earlier in the season, but has been able to use it to fuel him to future success.
“He dropped a close one to a kid from Pitt and I think that was kind of really bothering him and he was just kind of not feeling like he was in sync and things like that,” said Dubuque. “So really proud of the way that he’s strung a great tournament together and I think he’s going to really build upon this.”
The Tigers can follow the same blueprint. They have challenges that they are working through as they put together their top lineup for the meat of their schedule. There will be chances to work against top competition all year.
“We wrestle Penn State, we wrestle Pitt and West Virginia, both top 20 teams,” said Dubuque. “Cornell right now, I think they’re right in the top 15. Rutgers is right around the top 10. So we’re always trying to challenge ourselves from a dual meet perspective. Every team that we come up against, it’s an opportunity for us to go out and perform and go see how good we can be.”
Princeton will figure out its final pieces of its lineup and try to be a contender in the Ivy League. Cornell and Penn are favorites, and Columbia is an improved squad, but Princeton has every opportunity to develop over the season, and a collection of talent that can do it.
“I feel like the group of kids we have now, they’re taking advantage of both opportunities that Princeton wrestling is providing for them and they’re really loving it,” said Dubuque. “And that’s something that we can work a lot with. It’s early in the season. We still have a lot of work to do, but I feel really good about where we’re at.”