hey fellas, how did you fare in high school and college wrestling?

[Uncle Fester Addams]

i was 35-47 including an undefeated varsity career of 1-0. didn't wrestle college on account you need to be enrolled..in high school i was home schooled and wrassled at school near me.. so how did you do any state champs here. my fastest pin was 16 seconds i think. bated my leg at the whistle and spladdle to pin. ca powie

 

[7brwnpsu]

I never wrestled except for the Y program but had I gone out, I have no doubt I would have been the champ of Freedonia. I was going to go out for the team but i didn't like the coach Rufus T. Firefly.

 

[tikk10]

I wrestled 129, 148, and 158 over four years in HS. Finished fourth in NYS my senior year, but went 0-1 in my only prep nationals visit (the one still held at Lehigh each year). Highlight of my HS career was pinning a guy in the finals of my school's invitational and getting OW. I think I could've wrestled in college but there was no wrestling at art school, only ultimate frisbee.

 

[Dogwelder]

I was a wrestling legend in MM.

 

[McScoreley]

I have absolutely no accolades:

Never even cracked the starting lineup in my HS... I was the very definition of a room guy. I ran cross country to condition for it in the Fall, went to summer camps and gave it my all every practice. I just wasn't talented obviously but I loved the sport so much. Helped that my coach knew success is relative and gave me the same love, recognition and respect as our best wrestlers. We still talk to this day (especially since obviously he idolizes Cael, as a coach, person and wrestler)

 

[KCLion]

I wrestled 129, 148, and 158 over four years in HS. Finished fourth in NYS my senior year, but went 0-1 in my only prep nationals visit (the one still held at Lehigh each year). Highlight of my HS career was pinning a guy in the finals of my school's invitational and getting OW. I think I could've wrestled in college but there was no wrestling at art school, only ultimate frisbee.

I wrestled 119 (weighed in at 112 while at 119), 126 predominately and a few matches at 132/138 depending on teammates illness, etc.). Won about 75% of my matches over 4-year varsity career, but lost to my Nolf 7 times in duals and districts. Despite a great junior year I lost a lot of my interest my senior year after a coaching change. Once caught a returning state champ on his back for my biggest win. I counted the lights one time which was one time too many. Won our schools scholar athlete my senior year (Football RB, Wrestling, and Tennis - first singles). Wrestled 142 at PSU in the IM program and finished 2nd out of about 42 wrestlers after a cut to my eyebrow swelled shut and sent me to Rittenour for several stitches. Such was the end of my wrestling “career” wrestling boys/men. LOL, Wink, Wink. Switched to cheerleading at PSU.

Edit - just ran across my Junior Olympics bracket in which I was a gangly 55 pounder!

 

[pawrestlersintn]

Only wrestled in 7th and 8th grade, but don't think I missed being at a dual meet during HS. Then lost touch with it, until my boys started. Lived vicariously through them, and now live vicariously through the boys in blue. Since I live vicariously through them, I'm really, really good now.

 

[NewarkLion96]

Never wrestled. During the 1st week of freshman year, however, a kid was 'getting loud' about being a regional champ from NY. We cleared out a few couches in the dorm commons. He was down and out in less than 3 minutes. Dummy. #coolstorybro Later, I was a strength coach for many sports. 1 was wrestling.

 

[Afw6006]

Wrestled in the state of NC. Was a 3x SQ my SO-SR year but never placed. My career record was something along the lines of 175-50. This was before they put a cap on how many matches you could wrestle in a year. I was a pretty decent regular season wrestler but never put it together at the state tournament. Didnt pursue wrestling in college

 

[lookleft goright]

I never won the Afton quadrangular and since that is all that really counts, I have nothing else to say.

 

[District four]

I never won the Afton quadrangular and since that is all that really counts, I have nothing else to say.

No but I went to high school in the best wrestling district in PA .District Four

 

[Uncle Fester Addams]

Only wrestled in 7th and 8th grade, but don't think I missed being at a dual meet during HS. Then lost touch with it, until my boys started. Lived vicariously through them, and now live vicariously through the boys in blue. Since I live vicariously through them, I'm really, really good now.

yepper. i lost touch with it for many years. one year, ness vs dennis pulled me back in when i was going through tough times. announcer "never say die". such a good match. tried share it but its not on you tube anymore

 

[PAwrestling]

This is not shocking to me lol

 

[PAwrestling]

Am not a State Champ but I did take 3rd in AA.

 

[Uncle Fester Addams]

This is not shocking to me lol

huh, please explain

 

[Law-Deezie]

I started wrestling as a sophomore in HS when the legendary Coach Chuck Turskey kept hounding me about just coming to a practice (he was a substitute teacher and head coach at Kiski Area...same school Cutch, Blummer and Reid from Lehigh attended). Once I did I was hooked...I wrestled 119 as a sophomore (JV), 126 & 135 as a junior and senior (starting). Was an average starter on a solid team that had multiple kids get schollies as wrestlers. Had the opportunity to be a part of duals against the likes of Kolat, Ty Moore (RIP), Ray Brinzer, Steve Cassidy etc. Was a football player by nature but wrestling became my passion. Still wish, to this day, I would’ve started much younger/earlier.

 

[PAwrestling]

huh, please explain

Just that a lot of regular posters didnt have much real wrestling experiences. It is a lot harder than it appears to wrestle at any level of college wrestling. Some things I see typed on this board make me cringe.

 

[Rhino80]

I wrestled at Benton, placed twice in AA. I wrestled for the Marine Corps team my first few years in the Corps. Never college but did compete in a few opens with the Corps.

 

[TangSoo]

Started wrestling when I was 8. My school dropped wrestling when I was in 9th grade. Real shame, we had a stacked team and ultimately 6 NCAA Championships came out of that room ;-). Supplemented the loss of a season with tournaments and a couple camps. Transferred to the Vo-Tech in 10th grade to continue wrestling and also to learn I wasn't a Carpenter and better prep for college. Won the spot at 132 vacated by my graduated brother. Good high school wrestler. Nothing more. I regret devoting so much time to baseball. A little more summer work would've benefitted my wrestling.

 

[TangSoo]

I started wrestling as a sophomore in HS when the legendary Coach Chuck Turskey kept hounding me about just coming to a practice (he was a substitute teacher and head coach at Kiski Area...same school Cutch, Blummer and Reid from Lehigh attended). Once I did I was hooked...I wrestled 119 as a sophomore (JV), 126 & 135 as a junior and senior (starting). Was an average starter on a solid team that had multiple kids get schollies as wrestlers. Had the opportunity to be a part of duals against the likes of Kolat, Ty Moore (RIP), Ray Brinzer, Steve Cassidy etc. Was a football player by nature but wrestling became my passion. Still wish, to this day, I would’ve started much younger/earlier.

Once dated a girl from Leechburg. I'll let Owen Wilson speak for me:

 

[Law-Deezie]

Once dated a girl from Leechburg. I'll let Owen Wilson speak for me:

View embedded media

Ha-Ha...I grew up in North Vandergrift, a 10 minute drive away...I’m sure you enjoyed that time of ur life

 

[seamus98]

Started wrestling in 6th grade and wrestled throughout high school mainly as a respite from football. Fell in love with being a heavyweight and having the ability to eat on the bus rides to matches. The leverage, body control and conditioning were ideal for furthering my skills in what I had already decided was going to be my collegiate sport.
Wrestling against schools like Bald Eagle, Phillipsburg Osceola, Mount Union, and State College gave me a trove of stories and common ground with wrestlers I meet at events.
Had the unfortunate pleasure of being knocked unconscious in the district finals by the son of a PSU football coach in my home gymnasium and lost in overtime in the consolation finals of regionals the following week.
Found myself drawn back to the sport in my late 20’s and slowly began to regret not pursuing the sport as emphatic as I did football. It’s now a full blown addiction and the other sport has faded into the background.

 

[GogglesPaizano]

Pretty solid middle School wrestler, went to a PSU wrestling camp one summer, it was awesome. WPIAL undefeated as a Freshman 98 and Sophmore 112 but as JV. Then grew 6 inches in one year and got my ass handed to me on a regular basis, in all I was pretty bad. Jr 138 and Sr 145. Went to Penn State and played some baseball then transferred out west. I'm 6' 2" and 220 now, and look at my kids and can't believe I was once sub 100 lbs in highschool, that's insane.

 

[Uncle Fester Addams]

Started wrestling when I was 8. My school dropped wrestling when I was in 9th grade. Real shame, we had a stacked team and ultimately 6 NCAA Championships came out of that room ;-). Supplemented the loss of a season with tournaments and a couple camps. Transferred to the Vo-Tech in 10th grade to continue wrestling and also to learn I wasn't a Carpenter and better prep for college. Won the spot at 132 vacated by my graduated brother. Good high school wrestler. Nothing more. I regret devoting so much time to baseball. A little more summer work would've benefitted my wrestling.

hear ya. devoted a bunch of time to baseball. great game but not the sport wrestling is.

 

[Uncle Fester Addams]

I wrestled at Benton, placed twice in AA. I wrestled for the Marine Corps team my first few years in the Corps. Never college but did compete in a few opens with the Corps.

thanks for your service brother.

 

[dbldoofus]

Never wrestled. Didn’t have it at my HS in Lackawanna in the late 70’s early 80’s.

My son did when he was 5 and 6. He quit after that but that is how I got into it.
I like to think he would have been good. He won EPYSL JV tournament his 2nd year. Bonused his way through with a cement job in the finals against a kid he just barely beat earlier in the year.

Anyway all this was back around ‘06 when Upper Perk won the AAA state title and at least 3 state champs (Z Kemmerer, Fiorito and Sheetz). So seeing that success was exciting.

Also when my son was club wrestling he was pinned by a kid who later beat Desanto in Hershey ...might have been ADS Soph year. Dustin Steffenino took third that year and won over ADS with a defensive pin.

It is November yet?

 

[zzs006]

I placed 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 2nd at state in CO during HS. My very real and awesome claim to fame is that I actually wrestled Cael in hs. Him being Utah and me from Colorado I saw a lot of his family during freestyle and at 1 hs tournament during the year. I lost obviously but fairly close. 7-3 I believe. He won the tournament and I took 3rd. After hs I took 3rd at hs nationals and then wrestled for Ohio University. Transferred to the university of Wyoming and got really sick. Took a couple years off and came back for a final year and finished up taking 3rd in the country at Western State College which is Division 2. Now I just follow and watch as much as I can. Follow PSU because of Sanderson and of course because the team is so incredible. I can also say the Sanderson family has always been top notch. For as good as all of the boys were they were always extremely kind and down to earth. Quiet and just went about their business. I wrestled Cole multiple times as well and a good friend of mine who was a 4 timer in CO battled with Cody a ton of times. One last thing, I wrestled Cael at 119 lbs!!! He didn’t get big til much later.

 

[matter7172]

Started wrestling after being the last cut from my 9th grade bball team. Did ok in HS, much better in my senior year. Beat the sectional champ and regional runnerup but got knocked out by an elbow off a restart in my first sectional match. Not called and I was done.

.500 wrestler in D3. Wrestled after college for a number of years against former D1 wrestlers and my club team wrestled against D3 and D1 teams in the NYC area. Improved a lot after I stopped wrestling in a practice context. I believe in "play wrestling".

 

[Jkos11]

I wrestled, how I did doesn’t matter (not well if only being ranked high in 8th grade mattered lol). What matters is that you learned lessons from the sport and use those today. Not many of us can make a living off of the sport but we can all enjoy it.

 

[7brwnpsu]

Just that a lot of regular posters didnt have much real wrestling experiences. It is a lot harder than it appears to wrestle at any level of college wrestling. Some things I see typed on this board make me cringe.

I hope I'm not misreading your post but it appears that you are saying if you didn't wrestle in college one doesn't understand it and how hard it is as we didn't have "real Wrestling experience". I was a three sport athlete in high school and had worked hard but didn't have the talent after trying it in college. Wrestling was not one of my sports but I directed my boys in that direction and thus immersed myself in the sport. If my kids attended a camp I stayed to watch and soaked in the sport. I was bless and crazy enough to have a Hodge Trophy winner do a clinic on mats I routinely put down in my back yard and thought nothing to drive my kid 500 miles to attend a John Smith camp in the middle of nowhere upstate NY. I love this sport and was blessed my child attended Penn State in Cael's second year.

Anyone would be a fool to think this is not one of the toughest sports around. I appreciate anyone who takes the mat at any level. I apologize if I misread your post. But if my interpretation of you post is correct and it takes that level of college experience to understand the sport, it is like saying only Cael, Pat Smith, Dake and Stieber understand the sport. True fans are true fans.

I do agree that at times stupid things are posted on the forum. But one's mat resume doesn't necessarily preclude those posts.

 

[PAwrestling]

I hope I'm not misreading your post but it appears that you are saying if you didn't wrestle in college one doesn't understand it and how hard it is as we didn't have "real Wrestling experience". I was a three sport athlete in high school and had worked hard but didn't have the talent after trying it in college. Wrestling was not one of my sports but I directed my boys in that direction and thus immersed myself in the sport. If my kids attended a camp I stayed to watch and soaked in the sport. I was bless and crazy enough to have a Hodge Trophy winner do a clinic on mats I routinely put down in my back yard and thought nothing to drive my kid 500 miles to attend a John Smith camp in the middle of nowhere upstate NY. I love this sport and was blessed my child attended Penn State in Cael's second year.

Anyone would be a fool to think this is not one of the toughest sports around. I appreciate anyone who takes the mat at any level. I apologize if I misread your post. But if my interpretation of you post is correct and it takes that level of college experience to understand the sport, it is like saying only Cael, Pat Smith, Dake and Stieber understand the sport. True fans are true fans.

I do agree that at times stupid things are posted on the forum. But one's mat resume doesn't necessarily preclude those posts.

Your interpretation was definitely wrong. I just cant stand when people throw these athletes under the bus time and time again. I lived everything times a million as a kid in this sport as per your post. That is the precise reason I opted to not push my kids in the sports. By not pushing, my kids are enjoying this great sport without the added pressure. We go to some tournaments and wrestle in a league. Not much beyond that in elementary. My oldest wrestled in college for 2 years. He decided he didnt want that anymore. I shook his hand and said, awesome, let's get that degree. My other 4 will continue to wrestle because they want to, not because I force them. Sorry for the ramble. I just believe u cant force wrestling on kids. The kids will know when they really want it. If that doesn't get them to their goals in wrestling, it is what it is. It got me to my goals as a parent. No disrespect to u sir, just explaining my position.

 

[7brwnpsu]

PAwrestling, thanks for you explanation. I agree with you, this is a tough sport if you don't enjoy it. I'm amazed how many rather successful college wrestlers or coaches put their kids on the mats and after a year or two the child moves on to something else. I applaud those individuals/coaches for letting their kids decide.

Thanks for your post and as one 5 kids, congratulations to you for having 5.

 

[7brwnpsu]

I also agree with you that some posters (few luckily) don't think when they type about young men trying their best at the sport.

 

[lionlover]

No but I went to high school in the best wrestling district in the HISTORY of PA wrestling: District SEVEN

FIFY

 

[lionlover]

I do agree that at times stupid things are posted on the forum. But one's mat resume doesn't necessarily preclude those posts.

Precisely! I ain't never wrestled on any level yet my commentaries are without peer on this board! I truly don't believe that!!

 

[Lionfan44]

Started wrestling my freshman year in hs and was undefeated and conference champ my senior year. Was recruited by several D1 schools but went to a D3 school. My final year (Jr) in college I had a separated shoulder and finished 2nd in my conference championships after an undefeated season. Finally realized it wasn't worth doing one more year and have just enjoyed being a fan since then.

 

[PSUcup1]

Won sections, districts and regions. 26 years later & I Still have not gotten over choking away a match at states my SR year

Never actually got to wrestle my ideal weight in HS as my best friend and I were always same weight. He took 3rd at states (should have won) and then wrestled at psu making line up as a Jr and Sr.

Was recruited by Drexel, Bucknell and Bloomsburg but chose to enjoy myself and have fun at PSU

 

[amattaro]

My folks (and really most in the community) were on the suck weight from a young age program. Cutting 5 to get from 55 to 50 as an 8 year old. I can remember them once giving me an enema when in elementary school. 70lbs in 7th grade, 80 in 8th. Looked at the varsity with an 18 year old cutting 103 , saw my future, and finally had the guts to tell my parents to F off and I quit.

 

[James P. Whitters III]

Two time state champion. 3 time finalist. .500 wrestler at ISU in very limited varsity action. Pretty safe to say I was a "room guy" by modern standards. I did win 3 different open tournaments during my career. I was on some great teams and had my head kicked in by some real legends. The sport has changed so much since I wrestled. I think mostly for the better.

 

[7brwnpsu]

Sorry amattaro. I'm glad you love the sport after all that.