Wrestlers wrap-up spring freestyle season
5/12/2010 3:45:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Although the college wrestling season officially ended in mid-March members of the Lehigh wrestling program remained active in freestyle competition throughout the month of April. Lehigh placed three wrestlers in the top eight at the University National Championships in Akron, Ohio April 10-11. Two weeks later the Mountain Hawks had a pair of place winners at the FILA Junior National Championships in Cleveland. Sophomore All-American Zach Rey competed in the U.S. Senior Freestyle Open that same weekend and placed seventh at heavyweight to qualify for the U.S. World Team Trials.
“It’s good to have guys competing and placing at high level competitions,” explained Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro. “We want to see guys placing high and winning these tournaments. Qualifying for trials and making World teams will always be a part of our freestyle goals. Our guys worked hard in the spring but we have a ways to go as we prepare for next season.
Rey went 3-2 to earn seventh place at the 264 lb. weight class. He avenged a folkstyle loss to Iowa State’s national champion David Zabriskie with a 3-0, 2-0 win in the seventh place match.
Lehigh had five entries at Junior Nationals. Sophomore Joe Kennedy led the way for the Mountain Hawks, going 4-1 and placing second up at 211.5 lbs. After winning his first four bouts, Kennedy ran into Wisconsin freshman Derrick Borlie, who prevailed 2-0, 1-0 in the finals. Also placing for the Mountain Hawks was freshman Robert Hamlin, who went 4-3 to take sixth place at 185.
Others who competed for Lehigh were freshmen Joey Napoli (145.5), Dane Stevens (145.5) and Alex Abreu (121.25).
The spring freestyle opened with University Nationals in Akron, where 13 Lehigh grapplers competed. True freshman Austin Meys turned in the top performance, finishing second at 174. Meys won his first five bouts before falling to Purdue’s Luke Manuel in the championship match. Meys, like Kennedy both impressed with their respective second place finishes, despite not being known for their freestyle skills.
“Meys is not a big freestyle guy but he did a nice job,” said Santoro. “When you break it down, wrestling is wrestling and he was solid throughout. Joe Kennedy also did great at Junior Nationals, even though he was giving up some weight. He was tough to score on and kept himself in good position.”
Joining Meys on the podium in Akron were sophomore Brandon Hatchett, who went 8-2 to place fifth at 174 and junior Kadeem Samuels, who posted a 5-2 record for seventh place at 185.
Abreu, Napoli and Kennedy all competed at University Nationals but did not place. The rest of the Lehigh contingent included junior Mitch Berger (132), freshmen Shane Welsh and Albert Woody (145), junior Kyle Rosser (154), freshman Josh Fitch (154), sophomore Sean Bilodeau (163) and freshman Kevin Bailey (185).
The spring freestyle season concluded with three Mountain Hawks placing at the Northeast Senior Freestyle Championships in Brockport, N.Y. April 30-May 2. Junior Kellen Aura placed third at 121 while sophomore Brian Tanen took second at 163. Bilodeau placed third at 163 as well.
“We need to have a very good summer,” said Santoro. “We’ll be working on the different positions. We need to go to another level as we continue to try to become a top team. There are 12 guys leaving this program, so we’ll look for some guys to step into leadership roles. It’s important to re-establish Lehigh as a program that will consistently make noise on the national stage.”
Lehigh’s University and Junior National place winners have qualified for the FILA Junior/University World Team Camp and Team Trials, May 24-29 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
