CMSV Dolphins go grappling in the Garden

The Madison Square Garden floor is typically a basketball court or hockey rink. But on Sunday, it was a wrestling bonanza — and the College of Mount Saint Vincent grapplers were in the middle of it all.

The third annual Grapple at the Garden featured matches between 25 college programs, including some of the country’s top Division I teams, high school squads, youth tournaments and freestyle matches that included Olympic medalists.

CMSV took on Wheeling Jesuit, a Division II program from West Virginia, in the early slate of matches. Despite losing a 52-0 decision, the Dolphins, who are a third-year Division III program, gained valuable experience and a lasting memory.

“There’s just so much history in that building,” said junior captain Karl Schmitt. “I’ve been lucky to wrestle on some big stages, but I definitely had some pre-match jitters. It was different from what I’m used to.”

In addition to the thousands of fans, there were hundreds of wrestlers on the floor, with eight matches going on simultaneously. Schmitt, who’s been with CMSV since its inception, said that while he was plugged in to his team’s match, he also snuck a couple peeks at the Northern Iowa-Duke match on an adjacent mat.

“It was really special to say we were competing at the same venue as some of the best in the nation,” said Schmitt, who is also a member of CMSV’s lacrosse team. “People heard our name on the loudspeaker. Our name was in the program. It was cool to be able to experience something of that magnitude.”

CMSV was initially part of the event schedule, but head coach Michael Shannon told the organizers his team was going to have to back out because it could not reach the ticket quota set for each program. When another university backed out, CMSV was back in, without the ticket stipulation. Still, many of the wrestlers’ families and friends were in attendance.