“We have a really nice balance to our schedule,†Santoro said. “There will be some really tough competitions for our team. It will be a good measuring stick for us as we progress throughout the season. We'll have to rely on our senior leadership while we work with the talented young guys coming up.
Santoro continued, “With the new National Duals format we had to change our schedule around a bit. What is nice is that we've picked up a Big 12 team and another Big Ten team in Oklahoma and Illinois, two very tough programs who we haven't wrestled in a while, so I'm excited about having then on our schedule. In the east, Penn State and Cornell will be very challenging, plus we're going back to the Midlands which is obviously a very challenging tournament.â€
The 103rd season of Lehigh wrestling begins with the annual wrestle-offs, scheduled for Thursday, October 27 inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. In a new twist, the Mountain Hawks will not open their season with a dual meet, but will instead send a full squad of regulars to the UB Open in Buffalo, N.Y. on Sunday, November 6.
“We're going to take 20-25 guys,†Santoro explained. “I've wanted to go up to Buffalo for years. There's a big debate with tournaments versus dual meets and we've seen teams enjoy success doing both. This year we only have one tournament setting where we do multiple matches in a weekend, but this will give us multiple matches in a day to give us a feel of where we stand.â€
Lehigh's first dual meet will be on Saturday, November 12 when Santoro's alma mater Pittsburgh visits Leeman-Turner Arena. The Mountain Hawks' first three duals will be at home as the following weekend, Lehigh will host a tri-meet with Illinois and Clarion at Leeman-Turner Arena on November 20. Illinois will be making its first visit to Bethlehem since 1934, while Clarion will visit Bethlehem for the first time since 1997. Both teams feature former All-Americans from Lehigh's class of 2006 on their coaching staffs as Cory Cooperman was recently named a volunteer assistant at Illinois and Troy Letters was named the top assistant at Clarion.
For the fifth straight year, Lehigh will spend Thanksgiving weekend at the Journeymen Northeast Duals in Troy, N.Y. This year the Mountain Hawks will wrestle three duals in New York's Capital Region, squaring off against NCAA sixth place finisher Arizona State plus Big Ten member Purdue and ACC foe North Carolina.
The Mountain Hawks will wrestle their first true road dual and get their first look at an EIWA opponent on Sunday, December 4 when Lehigh meets Penn at the famed Palestra. On Friday December 9, defending national champion Penn State visits Stabler Arena for the 100th dual meet between the longtime in-state rivals. If the Nittany Lions can maintain a No. 1 ranking coming into the early December showdown, Lehigh will look to knock off a top-ranked team at Stabler for the second straight year. The Mountain Hawks upended then-No. 1 Cornell 17-15 last January for Lehigh's first-ever win against a No. 1 ranked team.
“Lehigh-Penn State is always a great event,†Santoro said. “Whether it's here or there there's always an outstanding crowd. I have a lot of respect for the Penn State program. They're the defending National Champions so it should be a fun atmosphere at Stabler Arena, so we're looking forward to that.â€
The Penn State matchup will serve as the final dual before breaking for final exams and the holidays. Lehigh will return to action at the prestigious Midlands Championships, December 29-30 in Evanston, Ill.
Lehigh will ring in 2012 on the road on January 8 when the Mountain Hawks square off against EIWA rival Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y. The Mountain Hawks knocked the Big Red off their No. 1 perch last January but Cornell rebounded to win its fifth straight EIWA team title and place second to Penn State at NCAAs.
After the Cornell showdown, Lehigh will return home for three duals. Navy visits Leeman Turner Arena on Saturday, January 14 as the Mountain Hawks will look to exact payback from last year's upset loss in Annapolis. The Mountain Hawks will double up the following weekend, facing Rutgers on Friday January 20 at Stabler Arena and Bucknell the following afternoon inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall.
Lehigh will log some serious travel miles the following weekend with a pair of duals against top-20 finishers from last year's NCAA Championships. The trip begins on Friday January 27 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan against Central Michigan. From there it is on to Oklahoma to face the Sooners on January 29.
The Mountain Hawks will close out the dual season against three Ivy League foes. Lehigh heads to New England to face Brown on February 11 and Harvard February 12. The regular season concludes February 18 when the Mountain Hawks host Princeton inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall.
Princeton will host the 108th EIWA Championships at Jadwin Gym on March 3 and 4, while the NCAA Championships will be in St. Louis at Scottrade Center March 15-17.
The Mountain Hawks return most of their key contributors from last year's team which placed eighth at the NCAA Championships. Included in the group of key returnees are All-Americans Brandon Hatchett and Robert Hamlin, and heavyweight National Champion Zach Rey.
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