“Last week we really started figuring things out as we moved towards wrestle-offs,” said Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “The guys have been working hard. They started to get tired towards the end of last week, but they should be tired. Everyone’s spirits are good. The guys are excited to go out and wrestle against new competition.”
The Mountain Hawks return six starters that competed at last year’s EIWA Championships, including a quartet of grapplers that qualified for the NCAA Championships.
On Monday, Amateur Wrestling News announced its preseason rankings. Lehigh is ranked 14th in the AWN team rankings and has four individuals ranked in the top 20, led by returning All-American Zach Rey who is ranked No. 1 at 285 after placing third at last year’s NCAA Championships. Also ranked for the Mountain Hawks are junior Brandon Hatchett, who comes in at No. 8 at 165, sophomore Robert Hamlin, who moved up a weight class to 184 and is ranked 13th, and junior Joe Kennedy, who is ranked 12th at 197.
The NWCA unveiled its preseason coaches poll on Tuesday, with Lehigh coming in at No. 17.
Rey is one Lehigh grappler who will not be competing Thursday night at Leeman-Turner Arena. The junior heavyweight is currently in Turin, Italy, where he represented the United States in freestyle at the University World Championships. Rey won the right to compete in Italy by winning the University World Team trials in late May. The 120 kg./264.5 weight class was contested on Tuesday, with Rey going 1-1 to place seventh in his weight class. Rey opened with a victory over Iliya Enev of Bulgaria, 3-0. 4-0, then lost to H. Sheyda Khangheshlaghi of Iran, 0-4, 0-2. When the Iranian failed to reach the finals, Rey was not eligible for the repechage rounds.
Thursday night’s projected card features ten bouts with wrestlers from nine weight classes competing. Three bouts will be contested at 149, highlighted by a match-up between senior Kyle Rosser and returning starter Joey Napoli. Juniors Shane Welsh and Dane Stevens will match up as will freshmen Anthony Salupo and Dillon Smith.
A couple experienced juniors will meet at 157 as incumbent Sean Bilodeau will meet Brian Tanen, who has seen action at 149 and 157 the last few years. Two freshmen will clash at 174 with true freshman Shane Stark challenging deferred freshman Austin Meys.
Other matches include senior Mitch Berger versus sophomore Alex Abreu at 125, Hamlin versus junior Kevin Bailey at 184 and Kennedy versus freshman Max Wessell at 197.
Two scheduled bouts will be exhibitions between wrestlers from different weight classes. True freshman 133-pounder Frank Cagnina will meet deferred freshman 141-pounder Albert Woody. Senior Kadeem Samuels will go up from 184 to challenge freshman heavyweight Tim Granata.
“As long as the guys stay healthy we’ll be in good shape,” said Santoro, who begins his third season. “We expect our last five weights to be solid, but we’d like to see who steps up in the first five weights. We will need some guys to come in and make an immediate impact. We’re probably going to start three freshmen, but until you’re out in competition, you don’t know what you have. With our schedule, we will find out really fast.”
The wrestle-offs get underway at 7 p.m. Thursday from Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME, by visiting the Lehigh ticket office, located in Grace Hall or by visiting Lehighsports.com. For those unable to make it to Grace Hall on Thursday, the wrestle-offs can be seen live at Lehighsports.com, with Lehigh wrestling historian Denny Diehl ’70 joining Steve Lomangino and Gary Brownell for the commentary.
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