Making the cut
12/21/2009 3:00:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
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Senior Justin Allen is a veteran on the Lehigh wrestling team. He has been a competitor in the heavyweight class since he was a freshman in high school. With over 50 duals under his belt at Lehigh he has faced all kinds of challenges and competition. Entering his senior year and last competitive wrestling eligibility year, Allen has put himself into his greatest challenge yet; a new weight class.
The civil engineering major has had great success as a heavyweight wrestler at Lehigh. In Allen’s sophomore season, he was the primary starter for his weight class. Allen started in all 26 duals as Lehigh’s heavyweight and won 18 bouts overall including 14 dual matches. Allen‘s most memorable win came against Phil Doerner who he defeated 8-2 in the final bout of the night to give Lehigh a 21-16 win over Stanford. He also went 2-2 at FILA Junior Freestyle Nationals and 1-2 at both University Freestyle Nationals and the Northeast Regional Freestyle tournament.
Despite his strong record, Allen r had a change that made him question his role in the Lehigh wrestling program. And now for the first time, Allen is competing in a brand new weight class at 197 lbs.
Allen had a tough choice to make in his plan of actions but knew he was motivated and focused the whole time.
“I was at a point where I was analyzing my position on the team, and so I decided I was going to cut down my weight class to 197.” Allen said. “I am the kind of person if I have that motivation it will be easy to do. If I set my mind to something I’ll get it done and since last March I’ve been losing the weight and I’ve been adjusting my body to being this weight considering I haven’t weighed this much since sixth grade.”
Allen made the decision with both his personal career and the team as a whole in mind. Allen said he knew the change would overall be beneficial.
“I felt for my purpose on the team, me going down to 197, and trying to my best in that weight class could be better for me and for the team as a whole,” Allen said.
The drop from the heavyweight class to 197 forced the North Carolina native to shed over 60 pounds. Allen said he used all of the summer to prepare for the transition between the two classes. It took a lot of preparation according to Allen because while the weight is different, the style of wrestling is just as different as the weight change itself.
“I took the whole summer to prepare myself for what it is was going to be like wrestling these smaller kids who are faster than me. It’s just a different style,” Allen said.
“It was hard for me over the summer, but if I have my mind set to something like this, I’ll get it done,” Allen said. “It definitely kept me motivated this summer. It was challenging to lose the weight but clearly not impossible.”
The weight change is not the only thing changing for Allen. Allen said the roles have changed and this is a whole new experience for him. He knows as a senior wrestler, he can help the younger guys as an athlete and student at Lehigh. But now Allen see’s the roles reversed as he is in a new area of wrestling he has never experienced.
“Everything about this is a new experience for me,” explained Allen. “I’ve wrestled as a heavyweight my entire life, and so cutting down to a smaller weight class has obviously presented its challenges, and that’s been a new experience. It’s given me the opportunity to look to the young guys who have been in the situation with cutting weight. I get the chance to go to them ask them for advice because I need the guidance.”
Allen hopes all the actions he took to lose the weight and move down a class can show the dedication he has for the Lehigh wrestling program. With all the prestige and history with the Lehigh program, Allen loves that part of wrestling here at Lehigh and moving down a class he wants to contribute all he can to that legacy.
“The environment here at Lehigh It’s really motivating,” Allen said. “When you are training in a wrestling room where there have been so many good wrestlers over the past couple years, it’s kind of cool to be a part of that history of Lehigh wrestling.
Allen continued, “I think that people see it as a good thing. People kind of joke when they say the heavyweight is the easy weight class so now they see me taking on this challenge; I think it makes a sense of commitment and ready to put in the work mentally to help the team out. I’d be ready to do anything for the team.”
As his senior season begins, Allen knows this change will be helping him out in the long run and will walk away from Lehigh with no regrets.
“I think I’ll walk away with no regrets and I’ll have enjoyed everything I’ve done. It’s not just a good thing for me as a wrestler but in the spectrum of life it is a healthy move.”
The Mountain Hawks are currently 6-2 in duals and ranked No. 11 in the country. Lehigh will be back on the mats on December 29, when they head to Evanston, Illinois for the prestigious Midlands Championships, a two-day event hosted by Northwestern.
Story written by Kaitlin Dean ‘10
