Lehigh continues preparation for coming season
10/23/2009 10:15:00 AM | Men's Wrestling
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – With two weeks of official practice now complete the Lehigh wrestling team now has its sights focused on the annual season-opening wrestle-offs which are just a week away. Pat Santoro’s team has been hard at work in preparation for the upcoming season with the public wrestle-offs scheduled for October 30 and the season-opening dual versus Rider to follow on November 8. So far Santoro is pleased with the attitude and intensity the Mountain Hawks have shown on the practice mats.
“There’s definitely a higher intensity level in the room compared to last year,” explained Santoro, who enters his second season. “The tough thing is we’re wrestling against ourselves the entire time. Our guys are eager to start competing against outside competition.
Santoro continues, “We have a very challenging November, which will be a great test for us. We’re excited to be wrestling a lot of nationally ranked teams early in the season.”
In the season’s first month, Lehigh will face ranked foes Ohio State, Nebraska, Maryland and Penn State.
Santoro hopes to have the wrestle-off matchups finalized by the start of next week. There has been some good competition in the Billy Sheridan Wrestling Room, with good battles going on at 149, 174 and 197 in particular.
“We had a number of guys move up or drop down to 149, which happens why you graduate a senior starter,” said Santoro. “We have eight or nine guys competing at that weight and three or four of them are starting to separate themselves.”
The battle at 197 has been interesting with returning starter Joe Kennedy battling senior Justin Allen, who has dropped down from heavyweight, plus sophomore Mike Mutch and deferred freshman Robert Prigmore have looked strong in the preseason.
At 174, the Mountain Hawks return a two-time NCAA qualifier in junior Alex Caruso, who has been challenged by deferred freshman Robert Hamlin. In addition, freshman Austin Meys has held his own in the wrestling room.
Thursday evening, InterMat announced its preseason rankings with Lehigh coming in at No. 19. Defending national champion Iowa comes in as the preseason No. 1 followed by Iowa State, Ohio State, Cornell and Minnesota. The Mountain Hawks have six individuals ranked in the top 20, led by sophomore Zach Rey who comes in at No. 6 at heavyweight. In addition seniors Matt Fisk (133), Mike Galante (165) and David Craig (184) are all ranked 12th at their weight classes while Caruso and senior Seth Ciasulli (141) both come in at No. 18.
Fans can get their first look at the 2009-10 Mountain Hawks on Friday 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 Rider on Sunday, November 8 at 2 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.
