Lehigh continues preparations for 2007-08 season
10/24/2007 3:45:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
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“We’re now in the third week of official practices, and the guys are working very hard,” said Strobel, who enters his 13th season. “We have a young team, but what’s cool about having a young team is they’re anxious, and ready to learn. They’ve been paying attention, as we’ve been working in a lot of technique. We’ve actually had a lot of volume, and the guys have done a lot of wrestling.”
Strobel has also been working on ways to give his team some breaks, when necessary, because of the importance of balance to their training cycles.
Through the first few weeks of practice, Strobel is pleased with what he’s seen from the team and several key returnees in particular.
“The usual suspects, (Mike) Galante, (Dave) Nakasone, (Trevor) Chinn; they’ve all been with the program for a few years and are having a good fall," said Strobel. “Seth Ciasulli has had a very good run as has Kevin Vinh. I think moving up in weight has helped him a lot. Another pleasant happening, it’s not really a surprise, but Alex Iacocca has come back bigger and stronger and has moved up in weight and is wrestling with the bigger guys in the room, the 174s and 184s and even the 197s. “
A new wrinkle has been added to the wrestle-offs this season. This year, Leeman-Turner Arena will be split with brown-clad fans on one side and fans in white on the other. Lehigh has appointed honorary coaches, with Dick Moll ’61 representing the Lehigh Wrestling Club and season ticket holders, and Richard Kish, Professor of Finance and Law, representing the Lehigh faculty and staff. Once Strobel finalizes the wrestle-off match-ups, Moll and
“Wrestle-offs have always been stressful for the guys on the team,” noted Strobel. “The fans love it, because they get their first view of this year’s team. It’s stressful because nobody wants to cheer because it’s Lehigh versus Lehigh. But this year we’ve picked honorary coaches, and made it fun, with the draft. The spin-off is, because of the games involved with the draft, it should lessen the pressure that the guys may be under, and they can go have a good showing on Tuesday, and prove that they can perform under pressure in front of a crowd.
The wrestle-off match-ups will be determined prior to Saturday’s draft, and draft results will be available on Lehighsports.com Saturday afternoon.
With the regular season rapidly approaching several publications have released their preseason polls. Lehigh enters the season ranked No. 22 in the W.I.N. Magazine preseason rankings, while the Mountain Hawks are the top team receiving votes in the USA Today/NWCA/InterMat poll. Individually, sophomores Seth Ciasulli and David Craig are the only Mountain Hawks to garner rankings. Ciasulli is ranked 14th by InterMat and 17th by W.I.N. Craig is ranked seventh at 184 by W.I.N. and 12th at 174 by InterMat.
Fans can get their first look at the 2007-08 Mountain Hawks on Tuesday, October 30, when Lehigh hosts the annual wrestle-offs at 7 p.m. inside Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall. The Mountain Hawks will open the regular season at home against No. 22 Pittsburgh on Sunday, November 11 at 1 p.m. Tickets to any Lehigh wrestling match, including wrestle-offs, can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME; by stopping by the Lehigh Athletics Ticket Office, located in Grace Hall, or by logging onto Lehighsports.com at anytime.
