Comments on: Bonilla-Bowman enters NCAAs off rib injury and illness

By: 2000's

2000's — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:16:22 +0000

I agree he was some machine never stopped. I remember watching him and Martinez in a war at the Pearl River tournament that was some match I think you said it correct when Martinez was on he was tough to beat I remember him making it look easy to take Bowman down and then the following year do it to Marinelli at Super 16 and the following at Super 16 to Mifsud but as far as gas, and the mentality to wrestle for more then 6 minutes if needed Bowman was the man good luck at Nationals.

By: small schools

small schools — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:28:04 +0000

One other note on Bonilla-Bowman, all of the other wrestlers that I mentioned above came from elite teams, except for Clarke (Greeley is terrible now but back then there were multiple state placers on the team), and all the Westchester guys had the ability to train at ISW. Bonilla-Bowman came from an East Ramapo program that, while certainly good, is not a powerhouse, and despite that he would have had two state titles with slightly better draws.

By: small schools

small schools — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:22:48 +0000

Yes I did, he was an absolute force and probably the best wrestler in Section 1, pound for pound, during my career (2002-06). He won the unified sectionals as a sophomore at 140 lbs in 2003, an extremely difficult feat, and actually almost killed the kid he wrestled in the finals (I mean that literally; the kid was from Somers I think and was no scrub). He took 4th in states his junior year and gave Trevor Chinn possibly his hardest match of the state tourney in the semis; Chinn, for those who don’t know, is probably one of the top ten wrestlers to come out of the state in this decade (that would be a fun debate to have though). His senior year he took third, but only because they didn’t have seeding back then. The real state title match was his semifinal against Ryan Patrovich from Long Island, another of the top wrestlers to come out of the state this decade (and now his teammate at Hofstra). Patrovich was a 3-time national finalist in HS and his state title in ‘05 was his second. He only defeated Bonilla-Bowman in the waning seconds of the match and won by a single point I think.

I haven’t been able to see the new batch of wrestlers that have risen the section to such new heights, outside of a few finals matches from this year (Realbuto, Rodriguez, Flamio and Brundage; I didn’t get to see Grippi and Murayama), so I don’t know how he stacks up against them. But in my opinion he was better than both Colagiovanni brothers, Einfrank, Tortora, Clarke, El-Hag, Cuculo (who was the second best I saw), CJ Rodriguez, Paswall, Misfud Mike Martinez (who, when his heart was in it, was unbelievable), Zurla, Oddo (didn’t see his senior year) and Berkowitz (who never got the respect he deserved because he wrestled D2). That’s a long list of elite wrestlers, all of them all state I believe (save for Misfud, who was screwed by the lack of wild cards), and Bonilla-Bowman was better than them all.

On that note, though, I was wondering if any of you know how any of the above have been doing in college, if they are wrestling at the next level. It’s tough to keep a beat on them.

By: Coach Mike

Coach Mike — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:14:53 +0000

It would be fun to see Jonny have a good tourney this year. I hope he does well. Did any of you get to see Jonny wrestle in high school?

By: Coach Rogers

Coach Rogers — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:33:26 +0000

Good luck JBB! Get on that podium this year.

Coach Rogers

By: Asher kramer

Asher kramer — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:20:12 +0000

jonny’s the man, he never quits in a match hope he dose well