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CLEVELAND - Middletown North’s Tyler Klinsky was the 2020 NJSIAA 113-pound wrestling state champion.
St. John Vianney’s Dean Peterson won the 120-pound championship the same year.
On Friday night, the college seniors and former Shore Conference wrestlers and training partners met in the blood round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships at 125 pounds.
Only one could end their career with an All-American finish.
In the third scramble of the match, Rider’s Klinsky scored a takedown with eight seconds left in the third period to secure a 4-1 victory over Iowa’s Peterson and earn a top-eight finish at the national tournament for the first time.
“It means everything,” said Klinsky. “A lot of time put in, many, many years, a lot of sweat, a lot of blood and happy to get it done. It’s worth it. I just kept fighting, kept looking to score, it took me three times I picked his leg up and he kept rolling, scrambling and just able to get it done with a couple seconds left.”
After a loss to Stanford’s Nico Provo later in the night, Klinsky will finish his career on Saturday in the seventh-place match against Minnesota’s Jore Volk in a rematch of their second-round meeting Thursday which Volk won, 2-0.
It was Peterson’s third loss in the blood round in his four appearances at the national tournament. He spent his last four years at Rutgers before transferring to Iowa for his final season.
“We trained together in high school, we were different weights, he was always a good opponent and good friend,” said Klinsky. “I’m happy to get it done, but I feel for him a little bit.”
It was a remarkable tournament run and rise to All-American status for Klinsky.
After the loss to Volk, the 11th-seeded Klinsky dropped into wrestlebacks needing three wins to claim an All-American spot.
Klinsky won his first wrestleback over Oklahoma’s Conrad Hendricksen before running into Ohio State third seed Nic Bouzakis, who had been upset by No. 14 seed Jacob Moran of Indiana in the second round.
Bouzakis led Klinsky, 11-5, with a minute to go in the third period before the Rider senior locked in a cradle. Klinsky ran the cradle three times before finally sticking Bouzakis with 15 seconds left in the third period.
“It’s crazy, he just willed himself to that position, whether he got that cradle or not he wasn’t going to stop fighting in that match, he would have fought to the last whistle,” said Rider coach John Hangey. “That’s what happens when you put yourself in position to win matches.”
If Klinsky hadn’t earned the fall, the match would have gone into overtime tied at 12 because Bouzakis locked in the riding-time point and Klinsky earned seven points on the takedown and back points.
“Just keep believing, keep trying to score, that’s basically it,” said Klinsky. “I had no idea what the score was, I didn’t know the situation. I knew the best thing I could get was a pin.”
The win gave Klinsky a matchup with the eighth-seeded Peterson, who lost in tiebreakers to the No. 1 seed, Penn State’s Luke Lilladahl, in the quarterfinal.
Klinsky is a sixth-year senior who spent his entire career at Rider even as several of his teammates entered the transfer portal this past year and moved on to bigger schools.
He wrestled a couple matches during the COVID year of 2021 which didn’t count towards his eligibility then started for the Broncs the next two seasons.
Klinsky planned to redshirt in 2024 but when projected 125-pound starter Will Betancourt - who qualified for NCAAs this year at 133 pounds - couldn’t make the weight, Hangey pulled Klinsky’s redshirt.
Klinsky made his first trip to the NCAA tournament as an at-large selection. Ironically, the win that put him into the tournament was a 9-6 victory over then-second-ranked Peterson.
Klinsky went 0-2 at the NCAA tournament, then redshirted last season.
During his redshirt season, Klinsky put on weight and worked as a student teacher. He didn’t wrestle a single match - many redshirts compete in tournaments unattached - and Hangey feels the strategy helped Klinsky avoid the wear and tear and burnout that many sixth-year wrestlers endure.
“It depends on the individual, there’s no secret recipe, but what we did, we didn’t wrestle Tyler at all last year in competition,” said Hangey. “He didn’t need the competition. He needed to grow and let his body heal a little bit. He never missed a practice, but take the pressure off competition and look at it different.
“There’s only a certain amount of wrestling your body can handle mentally and physically. I don’t know that’s the answer for everybody, but it worked for Tyler. It kept him healthy and hungry.”
Hangey agreed Klinsky didn’t necessarily project as an All-American until the last few months when he dominated the Mid-American Conference, capped by Most Outstanding Wrestler honors at the MAC tournament.
“He’s been a different Tyler Klinsky the last few weeks, he raised his level and that’s what you have to do at this tournament,” said Hangey. “This isn’t easy.”
Klinsky wore the marks of a long and well-fought national tournament on Friday. His face is bruised, scratched and swollen.
“This tournament beat him up, I asked him if we could try to apply for a waiver for a seventh year and he said ‘No, I’m good, coach,’” said Hangey.
The All-American honor continues a nice run for the small-school program. It is the fourth straight tournament it put a wrestler on the podium, sixth time in the last seven seasons and ninth time in the last 12 years with 11 total wrestlers earning honors (For the canceled 2020 tournament, Jesse Dellavecchia was named first-team All-American and Ethan Laird second-team).
“It’s always nice to add another member to the family,” said Hangey, who was himself a Rider All-American in 1993. “I just mentioned it to Ethan, the home-grown ones are extra special just because they’ve been with us the whole time. The transfers are equally as special because of what they bring to the team and program, but when you raise them from Day 1 it’s really, really nice and he deserves every bit of this.
“He did all the work. You want to find out how to do it as a Rider kid, he’s a perfect example.”
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