Category: Sportswriting

The boxing team will be hosting the Northeast Regional Championships at 8 tomorrow and Saturday night in White Building.

Penn State will have nine representatives, one for each weight class. Box-offs were held last Friday to determine who will be representing the boxers for each weight class. Mike Joyce did not participate in the box-off due to an injury he sustained prior to his bout.

The representatives for Penn State will be Ben Ladrido at 125, Walt Blake at 132, Howie Rodgers at 147, Paul Maginnis at 156, Kevin Cull at 165, Jim Ustynoski at 172, Matt Marino at 180, Gerry Gramaglia at 190 and Seth Lyter will be boxing in the heavyweight division.

There will be representatives from Westfield State College, Army and Norwich. Penn State has faced many of these opponents before but will not know who it is fighting until the night of the bouts.

“This is the first time I have truly have been nervous about a match,” Blake said. “It’s a fear of the unknown. I don’t know what exactly I am preparing for, but after the first punch it will all be gone.”

In the regionals, there will be between two and four bouts for each weight class. The winners will continue on to Colorado Springs for the national championships.

Lyter said Penn State has a good chance to send the more representatives to the nationals than it ever has. There has been a lot of fire at practice this week, he said.

To the boxers, the words “Spring Break” simply meant that there were more hours in the day to practice. Coach Bill Wrable said that after the boxers had two bad weeks, he issued a challenge to the boxers to get aggressive and get into better shape. The number and the intensity of the drills have increased.

Student coaching assistants Kelly Cordes and Craig Bernier have helped to run these drills and keep the boxers up to par.

“This is what the whole year is about, this was a good time for the guys to hit their peak shape, ” said Wrable. “We’ll find out if it worked on Friday.”

“It is realy an inspiration when your coach is doing the workouts along with you,” Blake said. “It is easy to say to do it and sit back and watch. It really makes you work when he’s working out along with you.”

Boxer Walter Blake defeated the two-time national collegiate boxing champion at 132 on March 7, when the boxing team faced MIT, Westfield State, CCSU and Lock Haven at Central Conneticut State University.

A week of intense practice paid off as the boxers won three of their four bouts last Sunday at CCSU. After two weeks of disappointing losses, the boxers decided that it was time to get serious. The change was apparent, as the they were in better shape than they’ve been in all season, and found themselves in better shape than most of their opponents.

Blake won his bout with Dave Machamer of Lock Haven when the referee stopped the contest in the second round. With the swing of an authoritative left, Blake dropped the two-time national champ.

“I’ve lost too many bouts that have come to decisions,” Blake said. “I decided that this one had to end before that could happen to me again.”

Ben Ladrido had a decisive win in his 125-pound bout against Brendon Bellew of MIT. It was Bellew’s first collegiate bout and Ladrido carried him through the three rounds, Coach Bill Wrable said. The bout was a good tune-up for regionals, Wrable said.

The boxers have long had troubles when their bouts come to decisions, and that was the case for 180-pounder Bob Schirf. Schirf lost in a close decision to Greg Leland of Westfield State. Schirf started the bout slow, but picked up a lot of momentum late in the second round. He knocked Leland down twice in the third round, but still came up short in the end.

Mike Joyce won his 165-pound bout against Ed Chappa of CCSU, who could not take any more of Joyce’s battery. Joyce said the fact that he was in better shape could well have made the difference that won him the bout.

“He faced a different style of boxer than he was used to, and he dealt with it incredibly,” said Wrable.

This Friday and Saturday Penn State will be hosting the regional championships. Penn State will have nine representatives boxing, one from each weight class. The winners of these will go on to the national boxing championships in Colorado Springs.

With the Northeast Collegiate Boxing Regionals rapidly approaching, the boxing club find itself with a lot of slugging to do before their backs are off the ropes.

The boxers have lost 10 of their last 11 bouts in the past two weeks. Three of these losses came last week, when the boxers faced Virginia Military Institute and Lock Haven at Shippensburg.

Chip Finney lost in a decision to Carl Engstrom of VMI. The first two rounds came out nearly equal but Finney lost in the third round.

In a similar story Kent Bernier had a strong beginning and found himself comming up short in the end. Bernier started the match by out-punching, out-manuvering and just plain out-boxing Vince Zalisky of Lock Haven.

Zalisky soon turned the tables and knocked Bernier down to stop the fight.

Matt Marino had the third Penn State loss in his bout agianst Turso Valls of Lock Haven.

“I tried, I hit hard, It just came out the other way,” Marino said. “A loss never hurt anyone. I still learned from the match.”

The boxers will face many of the same boxers that they already have been troubled by when they host the Northeast Regionals, Mar. 20 and 21.

“This is what the whole season is about,” Coach Bill Wrable said.

Each school will have one representative for each weight class. Penn State will choose its fighters in box-offs, Mar. 13 and14.

Wrable says that some major changes are in order. He says that the whole team needs to become more aggressive if they are going to do win the close matches and do well in the regionals.

The boxers have a week off and Wrable says that he is going to pick up the pace at practice.

The boxer’s next bout will be Mar. 7, at Central Conneticut State University.

It is said that experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want. So Penn State’s boxers gained some valuable experience when they won only one of their seven bouts at Lock Haven University last Saturday.

Despite the grim sound of having only one victory, the boxers feel that they have gained something more valuable than a win — they have gained experience. And this experience will help them to become the boxers that they want to be.

Most of them have only boxed their first collegiate bouts within the past three weeks. As a result, most of the boxers are facing more experienced opponents. Despite these odds, Penn State’s boxers have managed to make most of their bouts come to close decisions.

Paul Maginnis, in his third collegiate bout, had Penn State’s only victory this weekend when he defeated Ken Barile, an All-America boxer from Western New England College. Maginnis knocked Barile down in the second round, but Barile managed to survive the standing eight count. The bout ended in the third round when the referee decided that Barile could not handle any further abuse from Maginnis.

Penn State Boxing Coach Bill Wrable said that Maginnis’ victory came at a good time, and that he was learning quickly. Wrable said he has high expectations for Maginnis and the rest of the boxers.

Seth Lyter had a heart-breaking loss to Dave Smith, an All-America heavyweight boxer from Miami of Ohio University. Lyter learned that he can stand with the best heavyweights in the country. The bout came to a close decision in the third round, but it was in favor of Smith.

“Seth showed some major improvement in this match. He gave this kid a real bout,” Wrable said.

In another bout, Ben Ladrido lost when the referee made a questionable decision to stop the match in the third round, feeling that Ladrido was unable to continue. Ladrido said that he did not have the same feeling.

“I didn’t feel that I was hurt,” he said. “I threw the last punch. I was disappointed in the stoppage, but hey that’s fuel for the fire. You live and learn. It gives me something to work harder for.”

Wrable also expressed sincere dissapointment in the stoppage. He feels that things may have ended differently if the referee had let the match continue. Wrable also acknowledges that the boxer’s safety is a priority with the referee, but he cannot help but have mixed feelings.

Co-captain Jon Wood, who was undefeated until this week, suffered his first collegiate loss to Robert Ford of Central Conneticut State University. He didn’t feel that his head was in the match until the third round. He said that if he would have boxed the whole match like he did in the third round that he might have won.

Howie Rodgers, Mike Joyce and Kevin Cull also lost bouts for Penn State.

The Penn State boxers are scheduled for three tentative bouts for Saturday Feb. 22, at Shippensburg.

“The (boxers) are half way there,” Wrable said. “This week made them take a long look at themselves. What’s important is that they are gaining experience.”

Despite the fact that most of the Penn State boxing team had its first bout last week, it slugged out a stunning 10 victories in its home opener facing Virginia Military Institute, Central Conneticut State University and Lock Haven University.

Eight of the 16 boxers had bouts in the novice catagory, meaning the participants have had less than three bouts. Penn State won four of the novice bouts. The other four ended in decision.

In the open bouts Penn State went 6-for-8. Several of the boxers placed in the open category still had under four bouts, but they showed the capability to face more experienced opponents.

One of the bouts in the spotlight was a rematch between Penn State’s Walt Blake and Jimmi Tores of Lock Haven. Tores retired in the first round. Last year when the two met the bout ended when Blake, who was troubled by losing weight, had to retire in the third round.

“I guess you could call this Walt’s revenge,” Penn State Coach Bill Wrable said.

Also sharing the spotlight was Gerry Gramaglia of Penn State, who, in his second bout, faced Dan Carr of Lock Haven. The fight ended in the third round when the referee decided that Carr was unable to continue.

Paul Maginnis, in his second bout, defeated last year’s national champion.

“They all displayed incredible potential,” Wrable said. “I am truly pleased with everybody.”

Wrable feels the team is in great shape and will be a force to reckon with. Some of the boxers to watch are Kent Bernier, who had an excellent first bout; and Mike Joyce, who stood his ground in his first bout against a skilled opponent with an awkward style.

Co-Captain Jon Wood says he feels that the team works hard and has a lot of heart.

“They live and learn with every bout, and I feel we’ll do great this season,” he said.

Other boxers winning their bouts were Jim Stewart, Jim Shank, Ben Larido, Howie Rodgers, Kevin Cull and Wood.

The team’s next bout will be Sunday in Lock Haven.