State is proving its worth !!!

[THE CHOPS]

State is proving its worth !!!

A sign in the University of Pittsburgh wrestling office sums up the state of the sport with a quote by legendary Iowa State coach Bobby Douglas. It reads: "In order to win a national championship, you either have to beat the guys from Pennsylvania or recruit them."

This past weekend was a good reminder of just how strong wrestling is in Pennsylvania. Fox Sports Pittsburgh and WPSX in State College televised two Penn State matches live. The No. 16 Nittany Lions lost to No. 6 Lehigh 20-16 on Friday night and then beat No. 25 Pittsburgh 26-19 on Sunday.

It was a rare opportunity for wrestling fans in the region to get a glimpse of what much of the country already knows - that many of the nation's best collegiate wrestlers reside in the Keystone State. A quick glance at the National Wrestling Coaches Association poll reveals that five Pennsylvania teams are ranked in the top 25. Edinboro and Penn join Pitt, Penn State, and Lehigh among the best teams in the nation.

While Pitt, Penn State and Temple are the major players in the money-producing sports of football and basketball, non-revenue sports such as wrestling give smaller schools in the state a chance to compete with the big boys.


The individual rankings are also littered with wrestlers from Pennsylvania schools. Among the top 200 ranked wrestlers (20 in each of 10 weight classes), 25 - or one-eighth - are from Pennsylvania colleges. Shawn Bunch of Edinboro is top-ranked at 133 pounds, while Lehigh's Troy Letters holds down the top spot at 165. Included in the rankings are wrestlers from smaller schools such as Bloomsburg, Clarion and Franklin and Marshall. That list does not feature anyone from Lock Haven, another state school that was a national power just a few years ago but has fallen on hard times.

The Keystone State is especially well-represented at 141 pounds, where five Pennsylvania wrestlers are ranked, and 157, which features four state wrestlers. At least one Pennsylvania wrestler is ranked in each weight class and all but two have multiple entries. One of those weight classes - 184 pounds - is headed by former PIAA champ Greg Jones, who won a national title at West Virginia last year. Pennsylvania's other "weak" weight is 125, where Penn State's Adam Smith is the only ranked wrestler. But that weight gets a boost from District 7 product Mark McKnight, who now wrestles for Buffalo.

The list of former Pennsylvania stars who have found success at out-of-state schools includes Thayer Paxton, who won a PIAA title at Berlin Brothersvalley before moving on to the Naval Academy, where he is ranked 20th at 197 pounds.

Unfortunately, all of that talent has not been able to deliver a Division I national championship to a team from Pennsylvania since 1953, when Penn State was king of the sport. The Keystone State has produced numerous individual titles in Division I and Pitt-Johnstown has delivered a pair of Division II team titles, but teams from Oklahoma and Iowa have dominated on college wrestling's biggest stage.

Maybe that's because the talent pool is so evenly divided

among schools in this state. Or it could be blamed on the fact that colleges nationwide make Pennsylvania a routine stop on recruiting trips.

Whatever the reason, broadcasts like those from this past weekend can only help the sport in this area, as it promotes it at the college level and helps younger wrestlers see that there is a future in the sport after high school.

"THE CHOPS".

[matmaid101]

Those matches were also broadcasted on PBS this weekend. There was nothing but good said about the PA wrestlers.

[Eaglealum]

That doesn't even mention the fact that,Iowa, Okla., Michigan, Okla. State, Iowa State, West Virginia among others , all have at least one or more PA kids in their starting lineups.

[Mithrandir]

I watched the Penn State/Pitt match. My question is why in a school the size of Pitt did they have two forfeits? I didn't see or hear a reason why, but it seems like they could get someone to fill the spots, unless wrestlers didn't make weight. This would seem especially important considering Pitt won the head to head 19-14 (just pointing it out) and came within inches of a fall at 197 that would've won them the match. Overall it was very exciting wrestling, and I think it is great to see wrestling broadcast, even on a local level.

[raeroman]

We are always looking for some kind of hs or college wrestling on tv. how do you find out who will be televised and when?

[4him]

I just took a quick look at the rankings. 133 is a pretty strong weight for PA with Bunch at the top and Sola, Headlee, and Ciasulli all in the top 10. Which is particularly impressive considering that Ciasulli wasn't even starting for Lehigh at the beginning of the season. Santo beat him out and was also ranked at 133 at one point.