Princeton University junior Pat Glory hadn’t competed in a competitive folkstyle match since defeating Columbia’s Mark Manchio, 3-0, in the EIWA final on March 7, 2020.
He hasn’t lost since dropping the sixth-place match at the NCAA Championships on March 17, 2019 in Pittsburgh.
Glory was preparing to return to compete at the NCAA Championships as the No. 2 seed at 125 pounds when COVID concerns canceled the 2020 tournament. The Ivy League opted not to compete last year with COVD still prevalent in society.
And Princeton decided to hold Glory out of the opening dual meet at No. 1 Iowa this year after he recently returned from the U-23 World Freestyle Championships.
So the past two days at the Cliff Keen Invitational expected to provide an insight into where the national championship contender was, and suffice it to say it went well.
The second-ranked Glory captured the 125-pound title in Las Vegas - including an eye-opening 13-0 win over seventh-ranked Devin Schroder of Purdue in the final.
Glory opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over George Mason’s Antonio Lorenzo but settled in and dominated Schroder in the final to reinforce he’ll be in the national-championship mix.
Quincy Monday also reached a final for Princeton before falling to Northwestern’s Ryan Deakin at 157 pounds, 8-3. Princeton finished ninth as a team and also saw Luke Stout take fifth at 197 pounds and Travis Stefanik sixth at 184.
Two other former New Jersey wrestlers reached finals. National champion Shane Griffith of Stanford (Bergen Cathollic) fell in the 165-pound final to Cal-Poly’s Evan Wick, 6-2, and former Blair wrestler and Northwestern standout Chris Cannon dropped the 133-pound championship match to Michigan’s Dylan Ragusin, 9-5.
Cornell’s Chris Foca (Bergen Catholic, 174) took third and Julian Ramirez (Blair, 165) placed fourth.
Bill Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.
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