History of RPI Wrestling
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| Mike Sell |
RPI Wrestling has a long and illustrious history. The club team in existence now, however, has not. The Division I team of old disappeared in the '80s. The new team was founded in spring of 2002 by Mike Sell. He worked hard to bring to life his brainchild of a wrestling club here at RPI.
The main obstacle in starting a wrestling program was finding a qualified coach. Eventually, Mike found Ralph Carotenuto. Coach Ralph had many years of experience with similar wrestling programs. For the first time since the 1980s there was wrestling at RPI. We wrestle on the mats left behind from the varsity team that formerly existed at RPI.
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| Kurt Munz takes the mat |
The team is growing fast. In 2002, we began an affiliation with the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA). In our first season of competition we were ranked 24th Nationally. We had three National qualifiers after strong finishes in the Regional Tournament. With increasing interest, the team's future is bright.
The team was coached in 2003-2004 by interim coach John Lakness.
After a brief dissappearence, the team returned in Spring of 2005 under Coach John Jenkins, Jr. With an abreviated second-semester season, the team accomplished much, finishing 7th in the Northeast Conference and qualifying six wrestlers for the National Tournament.
In the 2005-2006 season, the team was better than ever. On the verge of a full roster for the entirety of the school year, RPI peaked in the coach's poll at 9th in the country. They sent 8 wrestlers to Nationals, and two of them, Rob Venditti and John Steciuk, finished in the top 8, garnering them All-American Status.
| Coaches of RPI Wrestling |
| Years | Head Coach |
| 2002-2004 | Ralph Carotenuto |
| 2004 | John Lakness |
| 2004-2007 | John Jenkins, Jr. |
| 2007-Present | Brad Nelson |
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| Captains of RPI Wrestling |
| Year | President | Vice President |
| 2002-2003 | Mike Sell, '03 | Kurt Munz, '05 |
| 2003-2004 | Kurt Munz, '05 | Ben Meyer, '05 |
| 2004-2005 | Kurt Munz, '05 | Rob Venditti, '07 |
| 2005-2006 | Rob Venditti, '07 | Eric Pace, '07 |
| 2006-2007 | Rob Venditti, '07 | Eric Pace, '07 |
| 2007-2008 | Matt Gineo, '09 | Dwight Manganaro, '09 |
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Records of the old varsity team's performance may be downloaded here.
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