Valenti falls in SMOY quarterfinals

 

It’s been a few years since Matt Valenti’s been in a wrestling tournament, though he’s had plenty of success in them in the past.

But this time it’s a different kind of tournament, one where Valenti’s NCAA Tournament experience – he’s a two-time NCAA champion and three-time All-American – won’t necessarily help him.

Matt Valenti, Penn alumnus and current assistant wrestling coach, advanced to the quarterfinals of voting for the Elite Level Sport Marketing/National Wrestling Coaches Association Social Media Assistant Coach of the Year (SMOY) award.

Valenti ultimately fell short in the quarterfinals to Danny Irwin of Wabash College 1225-1170.

The SMOY award was created during the 2012-2013 season to honor those who make the best use of social media to increase the recognition of their program. The award has categories for head coach, assistant coach and athlete.

In each award category, there is a five round bracket to decide who will be the voter’s champion. While this distinction doesn’t definitively earn one the SMOY award, the efforts shown during the voting process certainly help the case.

Valenti faced tough local competition in the first round as he was matched up against a fellow Philadelphian in Drexel’s Frank Cimato.

However, thanks to avid campaigning and the twitter support of Penn Wrestling and associate director of athletic communications Chas Dorman, Valenti prevailed 425-338.

With the success of the #VoteValenti campaign in day one, Valenti progressed into a round two matchup with 5th-seeded Garett Kiley of Wayland Baptist University.

The two-time NCAA champ came through once again, tallying the second-most votes of the round with 1078. Valenti’s 1078 easily toppled the 900 votes for Kiley, allowing him to advance to the quarterfinals.

Among the best Valenti-related tweets of the first two rounds were references to Valenti being an “ambi-turner and ridiculously good looking” (Zoolander) and the similarity of his face to one of the aliens in Men in Black.

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