Tutolo bows out

Losses don’t get much more brutal than the one Kent State’s Anthony Tutolo experienced March 16 at Quicken Loans Arena.

The Lake Catholic graduate was hoping to win his first two matches March 16 to become an All-American. He was almost halfway there before suffering a heartbreaking loss in his first match during Day 2 of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Tournament.

Tutolo and West Virginia’s Matthew Schmitt faced off in a consolation wrestleback, and nothing was decided after seven minutes with the score tied at 2. After a first scoreless sudden-death overtime period, the match went to two 30-second tiebreaker periods with each wrestler in the down position.

In the first tiebreaker, Tutolo escaped for a 3-2 advantage and nearly held that for the win in the second tiebreaker, but allowed Schmitt to escape with three seconds left.

Then a wild scramble in the second sudden-death OT resulted in Tutolo on his back. Seconds later, Schmitt registered the pin, and Tutolo was eliminated.

The loss was proof nothing is easy at the D-I tournament, but Kent State coach Jim Andrassy knows he has something to build on with Tutolo, who will be a redshirt senior next season.

A season ago, Tutolo was a national qualifier but faced a rat-tail match to get into the Round of 32, which he lost. Another loss eliminated the 133-pounder. It was also a season of injuries for Tutolo.

This season, he was relatively free of injuries and was just seconds from advancing to a match for AllAmerica contention. Tutolo finished with a 28-13 record.

“Anthony was healthy this year,” said Andrassy. “I think next year we might have to alter his schedule a bit as far as how many matches he wrestles. He might have wrestled too many (this season), but Anthony didn’t wrestle a whole lot last season. Another year, hopefully he stays focused, comes back to the (NCAA tournament) and gets some redemption. He got a little taste this time, and got to Day 2, and that’s always important.”