It has been a unforgettable 3 days for Princeton University’s athletic teams.
And Pat Glory added an exclamation point to it all by winning the NCAA 125-pound wrestling championship Saturday night at BOK Center in Tulsa, OK. with a 4-1 win over Purdue’s Matt Ramos.
Glory became Princeton’s first national wrestling champion since Bradley Glass won at heavyweight in 1951 and just the Tigers’ second NCAA champion.
“I’ve seen that picture (the picture of Glass) since before I was a freshman going to ROTC practices,” Glory said while his voice was choking up in an interview on ESPN after he left the mat. “I always wanted to move him over a little bit and make some room for me. I’m just so glad we could do it. I hope it’s a theme to become for Princeton Tigers.”
Preceding Glory’s triumph were two wins as a No. 15 seed by the Princeton men’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament, including a resounding win over Missouri Saturday night, and a win by the Tigers’ women’s basketball Friday night in the NCAA Tournament.
After the bout was over, Glory let his emotions out for everybody to see. He then hugged the Princeton coaches, including head coach Chris Ayres and shouted “We did it”.
All of the Princeton coaches shouted back at him, “You did it.”
“We did it,” Glory said, referring to himself, the coaches, his family and his teammates. “I have so many people to thank I can’t thank them all in this one video (interview). I want to thank everyone. You know who you are. Thank you. Thank you so much. You all made it possible.”
He then hugged his father and mother who had joined him on the mat for the last part of the interview with veteran ESPN reporter Quint Kessenich
Glory, a two-time NJSIAA champion and four-time state finalist at Delbarton and Randolph native, was also able to erase the bitter taste of coming so close to a championship a year ago. He put up a game effort in a 5-3 defeat to Michigan’s Nick Suriano in that final.
“Second is the worst feeling in the world,” Glory said. “I just wanted to come out here and prove to everybody and I could do it and that Pat Glory is a national champion and that I could do it. We did it.”
Glory, then, let out a yell of excitement to everyone.
Always a major contender for the title, the door opened a bit wider for Glory on Friday night when Ramos pinned Iowa’s three-time national champion Spencer Lee and shocked the wrestling world.
Ramos, who was trying to become Purdue’s first champion since 1992, showed how dangerous he is in this bout by scrambling to fight off three deep Glory takedown shots over the first two periods.
Glory finally broke through with a takedown with 1:26 remaining and was able to ride Ramos out from there and conclude a weekend for Princeton athletics that forever be remembered by fans of all of the Tigers’ teams and by New Jersey sports and wrestling fans.
In the other finals
Multiple champions
Carter Starocci (174) and Aaron Brooks (184) of team champion Penn State became three-time champions.
Starocci pinned Nebraska’s Mikey Labriola with 14 seconds left in the first period.
Starocci has won 52 straight bouts since a defeat to Iowa’s Michael Kemerer in the 2021 Big Ten final.
Brooks, who somehow was the No. 3 seed, showed how good he is on his feet in a 7-2 win over Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen 7-2.
Penn State easily won the team championship for the second straight season and the 10th time in the last 12 seasons the NCAA Tournament has been held.
Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole defended his 165- 2021 with an 8-2 win over Iowa State’s David Carr in a matchup of past champions. O’Toole was better on his feet and in scrambling.
Carr, the 2021 157-pound title, had defeated O’Toole in the Big 12 final and in the Missouri-Iowa State dual meet.
North Carolina’s Austin O’Connor (157) showed his tenaciousness from the top position and outstanding mat sense with a 6-2 win over Penn State freshman Levi Haines for his second title.
O’Connor, who won at 149 in 2021, is North Carolina’s second two-time champion.
First time champions
Cornell’s Vito Arujau (133) recorded the biggest surprise of the finals by dominating and dethroning two-time champion Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State 10-4.
Bravo-Young had won 56 straight since a defeat to Sebastian Rivera, then of Northwestern, in the 2020 Big Ten Conference final at Rutgers University’s Jersey Mike’s Arena.
Andrew Alirez (141) became Northern Colorado’s first champion since 1962 with a 6-4 win over Iowa’s Real Woods and concluded an unbeaten season.
Nino Bonaccorsi (197) became Pitt’s first champion since Panthers’ current head coach Keith Gavin won at 174 in 2008 by coming from behind to defeat South Dakota State’s Tanner Sloan 5-3.
Bonaccorsi, who was defeated by Oklahoma State’s A.J. Ferrari in the 2021 final, rallied from a 3-0 deficit with takedowns in the second and third periods.
Sloan was South Dakota State’s first finalist since 2018 and was the Jackrabbits first finalist under current head coach Damion Hahn, the former Lakewood High School NJSIAA three-time champion and University of Minnesota two-time national champion.
Michigan’s Mason Parris (285), the runner-up at 285 to Minnesota’s two-time champion Gable Steveson in 2021, capped an undefeated season with a 5-1 win over Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet. It was Parris’ third win of the season over Kerkvliet and he concluded his career 4-3 against Kerkvliet.
Finals Results
157: Austin O’Connor (North Carolina) d. Levi Haines (Penn State) 6-2.
165: Keegan O’Toole (Missouri) d. David Carr (Iowa State) 8-2.
174: Carter Starocci (Penn State) p. Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) 2:46.
184: Aaron Brooks (Penn State) d. Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) 7-2.
197: Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt) d. Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) 5-3.
285: Mason Parris (Michigan) d. Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) 5-1.
125: Pat Glory (Princeton) d. Matt Ramos (Purdue) 4-1.
133: Vito Arujau (Cornell) d. Roman-Bravo Young (Penn State) 10-4.
141: Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) d. Real Woods (Iowa) 6-4.
