Freshman wrestler named All-American

Rider head coach Gary Taylor has done it again. 

For the third time in the last nine years and for the 14thtime in his illustrious career, Coach Taylor has come home from the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships with an All-American.

For the first time, the All-American is a freshman. “That’s a new sheet of paper,” Taylor said, “another page in the book. It is huge for our program.”

Rider freshman 149 B.J. Clagon (Toms River, NJ/Toms River South), the 15th seed, placed fifth,  winning six matches at Nationals, beating the fifth, the eighth, the 13th and the 16th seeds. “And don’t forget he beat the number one kid in the nation just two weeks ago who is a finalist tonight,” Taylor said.

Both of Clagon’s losses in the National Championships were to the defending national champion. “Just an incredible job of putting some great matches together, competing at the highest level and wrestling with a lot of heart,” Taylor said.

In the battle for fifth place, Clagon (30-11) defeated the fifth seed Chris Villalonga (30-6) of Cornell 6-3.

Clagon lost 2-0 to the defending national champion, Jason Tsirtsis of Northwestern, in the consolation semifinals Saturday morning. Tsirtsis also defeated Clagon 2-1 Thursday night in the championship second round.

Clagon defeated the 13th seed, Charles Cobb of Penn, 5-3 in the fourth round of consolations Friday evening to earn All-America honors.

In the fifth round of consolations, Clagon defeated the eighth seed, Alexander Richardson of Old Dominion, 4-3 in overtime Friday night.

Clagon went 6-2 in the tournament.

On Friday Clagon defeated Cobb, who had defeated Clagon in overtime earlier this season, after he defeated Chris Perez of Princeton 7-5 in the third round of consolations Friday afternoon. Clagon defeated the 16th seed, Mike Racciato of Pitt with a major 16-3 decision Friday morning in the second round of consolations.

Clagon is Rider’s first All-American since Doug Umbehauer finished third at the 2009 NCAAs.

Clagon was 1-1 on Thursday. Clagon won a major decision 14-5 over Ryan Mosley of Gardner-Webb in the first round.

Clagon was the EWL champion at 149, defeating the number one ranked wrestler in the nation in the EWL finals. Clagon won four NHSCA National Championships before coming to Rider and is currently ranked eighth in the nation by

Freshman 157 Chad Walsh (Cherry Hill, NJ/Camden Catholic) went 1-2 in the tournament, losing Friday morning in the second round of consolations.

In consolations on Friday Walsh lost 4-3 in overtime to Markus Scheidel of Columbia. “Chad got a tough call,” Taylor said. “I would have loved to have seen how he could have finished. He was competing very well.”

Walsh was 1-1 Thursday. In the second round #14 Walsh lost 11-3 to the third seed, Dylan Ness of Minnesota.

Walsh (30-10) defeated Greg Flournoy of George Mason 2-1 in overtime in the first round.  Walsh recently pinned Flournoy in the EWL Championship bout. Flournoy was the top seed at the EWLs and defeated Walsh during the dual meet season

Junior 165 Conor Brennan (Brick, NJ/Brick Twp.) was 2-2 at Nationals.  Brennan lost 5-1 to the 10th seed from Stanford, Jim Wilson, in consolations Friday.

Brennan was 2-1 on Thursday, with both wins coming in consolations. “This will help Conor,” Taylor said. “He won a couple matches out here and beat some good wrestlers.”

Brennan won a 14-4 major decision over Jesse Stafford of Air Force in the second round of consolations. Brennan defeated Tyrel White of Colorado 4-2 in the first round of consolations. Brennan (15-7) lost 4-1 to the No. 9 seed, Jackson Morse of Illinois in the Championship first round. During the dual meet season Brennan lost to Morse 8-6.

This was Brennan’s second trip to Nationals as an EWL Champion, this year at 165 after winning the 174 pound weight class last year. Brennan won a match at the 2014 Nationals.

Junior 133 Rob Deutsch (Cherry Hill, NJ/Eastern Regional) lost in the second round of consolations and was 1-2 in the tournament. Deutsch lost 11-1 to the fourth seed, Johnni DiJulius of Ohio St. Friday morning.

Deutsch was 1-1 Thursday. Deutsch defeated Ron Perry of Lock Haven 5-2 in consolations. Deutsch lost 3-1 in overtime to the #14 seed, Rossi Bruno of Michigan in the first round.

Deutsch was the EWL champion at 133 and is a three-time NCAA qualifier. Deutsch won two matches at the 2014 Nationals.

Sophomore 174 Ryan Wolfe (New Castle, Del./Caravel Academy) was 0-2 on Thursday.

Wolfe (21-11) lost 12-3 to Brian Harvey of Army in consolations. Wolfe lost 5-2 to the No. 11 seeded 174, Zach Brunson of Illinois in the first round. During the dual meet season Wolfe lost to Brunson 9-4. Wolfe was the EWL champion.

Senior 141 Chuck Zeisloft (Woodbury Heights, NJ/Gateway) was 0-2 Thursday. Zeisloft (19-16) lost 11-2 to Joseph Spisak of Virginia in consolations. Zeisloft lost 4-2 in overtime to Jordan Laster of Princeton in the pigtail round.  During the dual meet season Zeisloft lost 5-4 to Laster. 

Zeisloft placed fourth in his 141 weight class at the EWLs, winning four of six matches. Zeisloft was an NCAA qualifier last year after placing third in his weight class at the EWLs, and won a match at the 2014 Nationals.

Rider’s six National Qualifiers were 10-12 in the tournament and placed 27th. “I’m very pleased with our performance out here,” Taylor said. 

All five EWL Champions return. “They all competed hard out here,” Taylor said, “and they all learned valuable lessons out here. It will inspire them next year. It is exciting to have them back. (Associate Head Coach) John Hangey, (Assistant Coach) Nic Bedelyon and (Assistant Coach) Jason Nase did a great job getting them ready and they deserve a lot of the credit.”