By Jeff Breese
jbreese@intermatwrestle.com
The second week of the college wrestling season is underway and this week there is no bigger dual meet than the Lehigh versus Maryland on Sunday. It is the most important Division I dual meet scheduled this weekend. This dual has several story lines to follow just with the competitors alone, but none of them compare to the intrigue of the coaching match-up.
It will be Kerry McCoy versus Pat Santoro or Pat Santoro versus Kerry McCoy, depending on your point of view.
The two coaches have a long history with each other and, in a sense, have followed each other from job to job. When McCoy was a student-athlete at Penn State, Santoro was part of the Nittany Lion coaching staff. Once McCoy graduated he became a member of the Nittany Lion coaching staff and Santoro became an assistant at Lehigh. After three seasons at Penn State, McCoy then joined Santoro at Lehigh as the director wrestling and head coach at the Lehigh Valley Athletic Club. Santoro and McCoy were on the same staff at Lehigh until 2004 when Santoro became the head coach at Maryland.
A year later, McCoy left Lehigh to become the head coach at Stanford. It seemed like the cycle would stop there, until this off-season. Greg Strobel stepped down as the Lehigh head coach and Santoro was awarded the position. McCoy, just as in the past, followed the Santoro trail and took the head coaching vacancy at Maryland. Now, to kick-off the 100th season of the Lehigh wrestling, the two old friends will send their best out onto the mat to do battle against each other. Santoro will be coaching against his old team, a program he built into ACC Champs last season.
The dual may not seem to be a tight match on paper, but both teams should be well prepared and should know each other inside and out. Add in the atmosphere that Lehigh fans provide at any home dual and this match could become much closer than anticipated.
The bouts at 133 and 141 should provide a lot of intrigue and have some back story of their own. Maryland's Steve Bell and Lehigh's Matt Fisk square off in a battle of P.I.A.A. Champions at 133. Fisk had the more storied high school career, but Bell will come into the bout ranked No. 13, seven spots higher than Fisk.
Former Easton High School teammates, Alex Krom of Maryland and Seth Ciasulli of Lehigh, will go head-to-head at 141. Both wrestlers had stellar high school careers for Easton. Krom set the all-time District 11 wins record and Ciasulli was a three-time Pennsylvania placer. Entering the match Sunday, Ciasulli will be ranked No. 20 and Krom is unranked coming off of a redshirt year.
The Lehigh versus Maryland on Sunday will clearly be the highlight dual, but several opens and invitationals will be going on throughout the weekend. Highlights of these tournaments include: The Oklahoma Gold Classic, the National Catholic Invitational, the Daktronics Open, and the W&J Open.
The Oklahoma Gold Classic, which is hosted by SUNY-Brockport, includes Division I teams such as Edinboro, Hofstra, Kent State, Army, and, of course, Oklahoma. The NCI showcases a mix of Division II East Region talent and throws in Divsion I Duquesne and Sacred Heart. The Daktronics Open is the best tournament to see schools from the Midwest compete and provides a first glimpse at Nebraska-Omaha, which looks to be a dominant force in Division II this season. The W&J Open is one of the tournaments that flies under the radar, but continues to become tougher each season with a good mix of Division I and II teams.
This weekend should be interesting and each week will become more exciting as rivalry matches and conference duals creep closer.
jbreese@intermatwrestle.com
The second week of the college wrestling season is underway and this week there is no bigger dual meet than the Lehigh versus Maryland on Sunday. It is the most important Division I dual meet scheduled this weekend. This dual has several story lines to follow just with the competitors alone, but none of them compare to the intrigue of the coaching match-up.
It will be Kerry McCoy versus Pat Santoro or Pat Santoro versus Kerry McCoy, depending on your point of view.
The two coaches have a long history with each other and, in a sense, have followed each other from job to job. When McCoy was a student-athlete at Penn State, Santoro was part of the Nittany Lion coaching staff. Once McCoy graduated he became a member of the Nittany Lion coaching staff and Santoro became an assistant at Lehigh. After three seasons at Penn State, McCoy then joined Santoro at Lehigh as the director wrestling and head coach at the Lehigh Valley Athletic Club. Santoro and McCoy were on the same staff at Lehigh until 2004 when Santoro became the head coach at Maryland.
A year later, McCoy left Lehigh to become the head coach at Stanford. It seemed like the cycle would stop there, until this off-season. Greg Strobel stepped down as the Lehigh head coach and Santoro was awarded the position. McCoy, just as in the past, followed the Santoro trail and took the head coaching vacancy at Maryland. Now, to kick-off the 100th season of the Lehigh wrestling, the two old friends will send their best out onto the mat to do battle against each other. Santoro will be coaching against his old team, a program he built into ACC Champs last season.
The dual may not seem to be a tight match on paper, but both teams should be well prepared and should know each other inside and out. Add in the atmosphere that Lehigh fans provide at any home dual and this match could become much closer than anticipated.
The bouts at 133 and 141 should provide a lot of intrigue and have some back story of their own. Maryland's Steve Bell and Lehigh's Matt Fisk square off in a battle of P.I.A.A. Champions at 133. Fisk had the more storied high school career, but Bell will come into the bout ranked No. 13, seven spots higher than Fisk.
Former Easton High School teammates, Alex Krom of Maryland and Seth Ciasulli of Lehigh, will go head-to-head at 141. Both wrestlers had stellar high school careers for Easton. Krom set the all-time District 11 wins record and Ciasulli was a three-time Pennsylvania placer. Entering the match Sunday, Ciasulli will be ranked No. 20 and Krom is unranked coming off of a redshirt year.
The Lehigh versus Maryland on Sunday will clearly be the highlight dual, but several opens and invitationals will be going on throughout the weekend. Highlights of these tournaments include: The Oklahoma Gold Classic, the National Catholic Invitational, the Daktronics Open, and the W&J Open.
The Oklahoma Gold Classic, which is hosted by SUNY-Brockport, includes Division I teams such as Edinboro, Hofstra, Kent State, Army, and, of course, Oklahoma. The NCI showcases a mix of Division II East Region talent and throws in Divsion I Duquesne and Sacred Heart. The Daktronics Open is the best tournament to see schools from the Midwest compete and provides a first glimpse at Nebraska-Omaha, which looks to be a dominant force in Division II this season. The W&J Open is one of the tournaments that flies under the radar, but continues to become tougher each season with a good mix of Division I and II teams.
This weekend should be interesting and each week will become more exciting as rivalry matches and conference duals creep closer.
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