jdalu75

Maybe eating bear jerky is a good way to cut weight ....

Seems to me that I've read that about one-third of academy students go to the prep schools first, and that it's to allow HS students identified with leadership qualities the academies desire to get their academics up to snuff. I've also heard that about one-third of their varsity athletes do the prep route first, but that doesn't seem to be out of line with the overall student body. Redshirting is not permitted but there have been a few rare workarounds. About 20 years ago one of Navy's HWTs -- pretty sure it was Scott Steele -- was injured very early in the season, possibly before duals began, during what would have been his senior year. He withdrew from the Academy and re-entered the following year. The rationale was that, had he continued in school and completed his academic requirements, he would not have been physically able to serve in the Navy upon graduation. So I guess he had surgery, rehabbed during his year off, re-entered the next year, competed for Navy Wrestling, and graduated and entered the Navy a year late. Considering the costs of training invested in him, it made sense.

Strictly speaking, there were no Div I NCAA champions in any sport until 1973. Until then there were the College Division and the University Division. The photo that begins this thread is of the 1963 College Division champions. The 1963 University Division champions were from places like Army, Lehigh, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse; you know, just like today.

Hmmm .... they're not deporting crackers ....

Next time you need to respond with the Yogi Berra answer: "Do you mean right now?"

There's sucking, and then there's sucking. While I was the EIWA's SID we had a few new teams enter the conference. At least one of them didn't field a full team and a couple saw their entire squad go 0-2. Granted, the EIWA no longer includes the Ivies and is down to just 12 teams, but Morgan State sent 10 wrestlers to the 2025 tournament, six of them won bouts, three placed, and Doolin was an alternate NCAA qualifier. They recorded four falls and didn't finish last as a team. They're not going to win the EIWA title anytime soon, but I've seen far worse first years.

Valenti is Penn's new head coach. He had disappeared into Penn's administration. I guess we'll begin hearing about him again.

165 - Max Brignola, Lehigh, returns. Went 18-0 in a redshirt season last year (wins over Ramirez and Mantanona, top 8 seeds at NCAAs); that doesn't count two wins over Louie Cerchio. Lehigh returns four redshirts. Crookham and Stanich were A/A's two years ago, Nathan Taylor was R-12 with two wins and two s/v losses. If everyone stays healthy, this could be our best tournament team in more than a decade.

Remember that those who go through that portal are really lost.

He was stopped for out-of-state tags that were expired. I was once stopped for expired tags but this was in-state in Virginia. My car wasn't searched. Maybe PA is tougher on this, or maybe it was the OOS thing that did it. The best non-paywalled article I've found is here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mma_ufc/nazareth-wrestling-legend-who-survived-shooting-now-faces-gun-thc-vape-charges/ar-AA1INzHj Lehigh announced his hiring on June 30th and his name still appears on the list of coaches, but no photo yet. A lot happened there in a short period of time and we're going to have to wait to see how it plays out. Gun laws vary all over the country -- I heard a while ago that the only document you need to carry in Missouri is a driver's license -- but the loaded gun within reach of the driver sounds really bad to me. That's how police are killed during routine traffic stops.

Joel Sharratt departed Navy unexpectedly in 2020. Lost too many times to Army, I guess.

Looking at my Lehigh files that go back more than 50 years now (somehow I don't look any different than I did back then) -- these are guys with no state or prep titles who placed at NCAAs. Some were blue chip recruits anyway, most weren't. Mike Lieberman, 2x Natl Preps 2nd, NCAA 1st, 3rd in 1975-76 (the last collegian to beat Chris Campbell). Tihamer Toth-Fejel, California 3rd one time, NCAA 5th in 1976. Denny Reed, PA A 4th and 2nd, NCAA 7th in 1980 (pinned A/A's to start and finish in his only NCAA tournament); I don't know that he was considered the team's starter at 142 until tournaments. Chris Ayres, 69-25 in NJ, 19-7 with Blair, no places, NCAA 6th in 1999. Mark Dufresne, NJ 4th once, 6-17 as a freshman at Lehigh, once wrestled both JV and varsity on the same afternoon at Army, NCAA 6th in 2000 as a senior. John Van Doren, NJ 2nd and 3rd, NCAA 3rd and 5th. Dave Esposito, NJ 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, NCAA 3rd and 2nd. Chris Vitale, PA AAA 5th and 2nd, NCAA 7th. Mario Stuart, PA AAA 3rd and 2nd, NCAA 5th and 4th. Current Lehigh Associate Head Coach Brad Dillon, PA AAA 5th and 3rd, NCAA 5th (after the worst OT screwing in NCAA history) and 4th. Derek Zinck, PA AAA 5th, 5th, 2nd, NCAA 8th and 5th. Honorable mention to Robert Hamlin, 4x VT 1st, 2x New England 1st, NCAA 2nd, 4th, 2nd -- I believe he's the only A/A in Vermont's history. Nicknamed The Vermontster (a few years later Connor McGonagle of New Hampshire wisely passed on the proposed nickname of The New Hampster). Scott Parker, PA AAA 4th, 3rd, 2nd, NCAA 8th and 7th. Ryan Preisch, 2x PA AA 3rd, NCAA 4th.

HC at Penn State?

I can think of a few others (Henson twins from Nebraska to Penn, Matt Greenberg from Columbia to Cornell, Rost Aizenberg from a JC to Cornell, I think Corey Anderson started somewhere else) but not recent. As you say, rare.

The important thing to remember is that both persona were just acts.