While one is an experienced senior and the other is a freshman, Bryan Ortenzio and Steve Robertson have one thing in common.
They both won in their respective weightclasses (133 and 149 pounds) at the Keystone Classic this Sunday at the Palestra.
Ortenzio won the tournament for a second time, the first win coming in 2009, before his redshirt junior season.
“I always try to bring out my best performance here,” Ortenzio said. “ I’ve been itching to get back on the mat.”
The senior won, 6-5, against Harvard’s Steven Keith, despite giving up three penalty points for stalling in the last minute.
Two freshmen made it into the finals: Robertson, who won, 3-1, against Boston University’s Neston Taffur, and Lorenzo Thomas, who lost, 6-7, against Kyle Blevins from Appalachian State.
“I’ve been really impressed by our freshman class,” Ortenzio said.
Robertson, down 0-1 at the beginning of the third period, tied the match on an escape and then finished it off with a takedown.
“I just popped his arms up, shoved him with a double leg and took him down at the edge,” said the freshman, who beat the first two seeds on his road to victory.
Thomas came back from a 5-2 deficit against Blevins, ranked 19th in the nation, but eventually ran out of time.
Another freshman, Ian Korb, placed fourth in the 174 pound weightclass after finishing fifth in Binghamton. He lost the match for third place, 0-5, against Matt Brock from VMI.
Erich Smith (184 pound division) also finished in the medals, winning the match for fifth place, 9-5, against American’s Thomas Barreiro.
The season has started well for the Quakers, but coach Rob Eiter says the team still has a long way to go.
“I just got to tough out a few guys a little bit more,” Eiter said.
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