On Friday night, Rider’s Gary Taylor joined a most exclusive group of wrestling coaches with his 400th victory.
“There are only a handful of coaches EVER who are above that number in the entire history of college wrestling,” said associate head coach John Hangey. “This is extremely significant. It puts him in a very exclusive club, and he deserves to be there.”
The Broncs won six of the 10 bouts to win an Eastern Wrestling League dual meet with Bloomsburg Friday night. “Our kids just flat-out wrestled tough against a good team in honor of everything Coach Taylor has done for this university,” Hangey said. “You couldn’t have scripted it any better.”
“We beat a very good team tonight,” said Taylor, who with the victory became just the second active wrestling coach to compile 400 wins at a Division I program. “I have a lot of respect for Bloomsburg. Our kids fought hard tonight and beat some good kids.”
Taylor is now 400-226-4. University of Minnesota head coach Jay Robinson is the only active head coach to have 400 wins all at a Division I program with 411.
For Rider (10-5, 4-1 EWL), ranked third in the EWL, sophomore Conor Brennan (Brick, NJ/Brick Twp.) upset 20-match winner Mike Dessino 3-2 with a late third period take down to give the Broncs a 17-9 lead.
Sophomore Curt Delia (Mullica Hill, NJ/Delsea) won by tech fall to give Rider an 11-6 lead. Delia was the EWL Wrestler of the Week last week and is now 10-5 in dual meets.
Rider freshman Wayne Stinson (Wrightstown, NJ/Northern Burlington Regional) won in an upset to give Rider a 14-6 lead.
Junior Clint Morrison (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cedar Cliff) won to give the Broncs a 20-9 lead. “Coach Taylor has probably forgotten more wrestling than what any other coach will ever know,” said Morrison, who has known coach Taylor for most of his life being that his father, uncle and two older brothers all wrestled for him at Rider. “I have been able to learn so much from him. We all have. He knows so much and it is so cool to have that knowledge in the wrestling room.”
Morrison had been out of the line up due to injuries but was cleared recently. “I was itching to get back,” Morison said, “and it meant a great deal to me to be a part of this win for Coach Taylor.”
Sophomore Robert Deutsch (Cherry Hill, NJ/Eastern Regional) won to give Rider a 3-0 lead. Deutsch, who is ranked 16th in the nation at 125.won for the eighth straight time and improved to 20-4 overall, 14-1 in duals and 4-1 in the EWL.
Junior Chuck Zeisloft (Woodbury Heights, N.J./Gateway) improved to 16-10 with a victory at 133 for a 6-0 Rider lead.
For Bloomsburg (4-5, 1-1 EWL), ranked second in the EWL behind #14 Edinboro,165 Josh Veltre, ranked 15th in the nation, won a close match with senior Ramon Santiago (Sayreville, N.J./Sayreville) to cut the lead to 14-9.
Huskie 197 Richard Perry, ranked fourth in the nation, won a major decision.
Heavyweight Justin Grant, ranked 14th in the nation, won for the final score.
Rider and Bloomsburg have now met 14 times, with Rider winning eight. All eight under Coach Taylor.
A seven-time Conference Coach of the Year, Taylor has led Rider to 13 conference titles, with 96 individual conference champions, 152 NCAA qualifiers and 13 All-Americans.
And now 400 victories.
“I told them not to get caught up in that,” Taylor said. “These wrestlers are fighting for seeding in the conference and national championships. What was important was for them to handle their individual jobs. They wrestled their heart out and ended up winning the match. I’m very proud of them.”
And they are of Coach Taylor. “Don’t get me wrong, it is nice getting the 400th win,” Taylor said. “It’s an accomplishment and I’m excited by it. I will probably look back on it more in the future.”
In the immediate future Rider travels to Boston University January 25.
Look for number 401.
Results:
125 – Rob Deutsch-R dec. Sean Boylan-B 7-1 3-0
133 – Chuck Zeisloft-R dec. Nick Wilcox-B 11-5 6-0
141- Matt Rappo-B wbf John Gentile-R 1:28 6-6
149- Curt Delia-R tech fall Derek Goodwin-B 18-1 (5:20) 11-6
157- Wayne Stinson-R dec. Kevin Hartnett-B 4-2 sv 14-6
165- Josh Veltre-B dec. Ramon Santiago-R 2-0 14-9
174- Conor Brennan-R dec, Mike Dessino-B 3-2 17-9
184- Clint Morrison-R dec. Sam Shirey-B 7-1 20-9
197- Richard Perry-B major dec. Jeff McElwee-R 21-7 20-13
285- Justin Grant-B dec. Greg Velasco-R 4-1 20-16
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