Wrestling: Kolodzik reaches national quarterfinals

With the victory, Kolodzik became the first Tiger to advance in the winner’s bracket at nationals in nearly a decade. The last Princeton wrestler to accomplish the feat was 174-pounder Greg Parker ’03, who reached the national championship bout in his junior year and finished eighth the following season.

But the senior was not done. In last night’s round of 16, he faced Northern Iowa’s No. 18 David Bonin, who scored a pin to upset No. 4 Walter Peppelman of Harvard. After both wrestlers were close early on in the match, Bonin opened up a small lead in the third period. But Kolodzik came back with a flurry of scoring at the end of the match, beating Bonin by decision to reach the quarterfinals.

Kolodzik will face American’s Ganbayar Sanjaa, who entered the meet as the fifth seed, in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Kolodzik’s younger teammates didn’t fare so well in Thursday’s first session. Junior 125-pounder Garrett Frey was pinned by Northwestern’s No. 9 Levi Mele in the first round. He will now have to climb his way back through the consolation bracket, also known as “wrestle-backs,” if he wants to fulfill his early season goal of becoming an All-American, which is earned with a top-eight finish at a given weight.

Sophomore Adam Krop, who suffered an ACL tear in a match against Lehigh’s Steve Dutton one month ago but still earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, wrestled through injury yesterday. No. 17 Krop lost his first-round match to Kent State’s No. 12 Tyler Small at 141 pounds. Before his injury, Krop was on pace to contend for All-American status, but now, like Frey, he’ll have to contend through the wrestle-backs if he wants that top-eight finish. If nothing else, this tournament will be an invaluable learning experience for Krop, whose future is bright.

Frey and Krop won their first consolation matches yesterday evening to advance to Friday’s consolation competition.

The tournament continues today in St. Louis with the quarterfinals at 11 a.m. and the semifinals at 7 p.m. Both sessions will be streamed online on ESPN3 and aired on ESPNU. The tournament’s finals will be aired on Saturday at 7 p.m. live on ESPN.