It’s Buffalo for Roulo

Willie Saylor, Editor

It’s that time of year where outgoing seniors who haven’t yet committed to colleges start announcing their decisions. Right on cue, there’s a big one.

Our #4 Top Prospect at 149, Blake Roulo of Matoaca, Virginia, has informed TheOpenMat that he will be wrestling at the next level for the University at Buffalo and Head Coach, Jim Beichner, who will guide a program record six individual national qualifiers to the week’s NCAA Championships in Philadelphia.

Roulo has a long list of national-level credentials. He’s a three-time Fargo All-American and a three-time Beast of the East placer, making a finals appearance at each of those events.

But it will be in Virginia Beach in two weeks where he could make the biggest headline of his accomplished career. Roulo will be looking to join a fraternity of four-time NHSCA Champions (Freshman-through-Senior), which currently includes just one wrestler, New York’s Tyler Beckwith.

We had the opportunity to ask Blake about his decision to head to Buffalo. His responses are here:

WS: What was the thought process behind your decision to choose Buffalo?

BR: I chose Buffalo because it’s a great area to be in. The campus is great. And as far as the team, there are tough guys all through the middle weights like Andrew Schutt(141),Mark Landowski(157)and Desi Green(149) MAC Champs. Plus I felt like the coaching staff was the best for me to achieve my collegiate goals at the next level.

WS: Talk a little more about your relationship with the coaches and athletes there.

BR: I feel like the relationship between me, the wrestlers and coaching staff was a good fit. We clicked right from the get-go. I feel like I’ve known the guys for years already. Also, I felt it was the one place where I could just be myself. Most importantly though, they’re just like me; they love wrestling and they’re willing to do what it takes to be the top guys in the country and that is really the tale of it all.

WS: What might you major in there?

BR: I plan on having a double bachelor’s degree in both political science and sociology and eventually getting my master’s in political science.

WS: What are your plans for the summer?

BR: This summer I plan on training ,training, and training(a lot with the UB most likely) and also competing at Fargo to win my first Freestyle/Greco titles.

WS: What are your wrestling goals, collegiately?

BR: The minor ones: to be a 4x New York State Champion and accumulate over 125 wins in my college career. My major goals are to be a 4x MAC Conference Champion, 4x NCAA All-American and a 2x NCAA Champion. I believe with this great a team and coaching staff that the sky is the limit. I can’t see myself shooting for anything less.