Clymer wrestling in NCAAs

Ben Clymer has been taking his college wrestling career one step at a time.

He earned a spot in the Hofstra University line up as a freshman. He made his first appearance at the NCAA Championships as a sophomore. And this year, as a junior, he won his first conference title.

The Northwestern graduate defeated nemesis Nate Schiedel (Binghampton), 4-3 in last week's Colonial Athletic Association 184-pound final.

The win earned him an automatic berth into this weekend's NCAA Championships, which will be held in Philadelphia.

"My goal is All American," said Clymer in an interview with the Northwestern Press in late January. "Last year my goal was just to get to the national tournament."

After appearing at the tournament last year and dropping two close bouts, Clymer opened this season ranked in the top 20 in his weight class.

A toe injury suffered during an early season match against Oregon State's Brice Arand at the Missouri Duals and a subsequent loss to Missouri's Patrick Wright dropped Clymer down in the rankings. But he's made a comeback.

"I got off to a slow start," he said. "I had a bit of an injury at the beginning of the year. Coming off Christmas break I've been wrestling a lot better."

Clymer (21-8) won 16 of his final 18 matches this season, with one of those two losses coming against Scheidel, who he lost to four times in his college career before finally breaking through in the CAA title bout.

"I can't tell you how much tape I've watched to try to find an edge," Clymer said.

The win also earned him Hofstra's Student-Athlete of the week award and helped the Pride win their ninth CAA team title in the past 10 years.

Clymer looks forward to wrestling in this year's NCAA Tournament so close to home.

"I'm excited with nationals being in Philadelphia," he said, noting that some family and friends already have box seats reserved at the Wells Fargo Center.

Clymer will take on No. 6 seed Ryan Loder (Northern Iowa) in the first round of the national tournament.

Ben Clymer, a former PIAA state champ and three-time state qualifier who won 128 matches for Northwestern High School, didn't take long to adjust to the rigorous college training schedule or the difficulty of competing with the best competition in the nation.

In his first season he made the Pride's starting line up and was named to the CAA All Freshman team, finishing the season at 21-12, including three pins, two technical falls and three major decisions.

As a sophomore at Hofstra Clymer went 23-7, finished second in the CAA championships and earned his spot in the NCAA field as a wild card selection. That tournament was the highlight of his college career so far.

"It was a great experience getting to nationals," he said. "Just to wrestle against the best guys in the nation and be able to call myself one of the best in the nation."

One thing that's made Clymer one of the best in the nation is his dedication to a year-round training schedule. He has stayed on Long Island for most of the past two summers to lift and train with teammates. He no longer takes off most of the spring and summer. A couple weeks after the season he's begins his offseason workout program.

"I made a commitment to get stronger," he said. "In high school I played football and then wrestled then gave myself a break."

He said he misses football, especially when he sees the big meals the Pride football players are allowed to eat in the school cafeteria while the wrestlers are on much more strict diets.

"We go to the cafeteria every day with an apple, an orange and a bottle of water," he said.

All the hard work and discipline is paying off with his success on the mat. He's done his part to keep his wrestling career progressing toward his ultimate goal - success at the national tournament. This weekend in Philly he'll try to take one more step forward.