Lehigh Sports Forum

Don't know who is back, or portal.

From wrestlestat, our 10 highest ranked wrestlers.

NAME
125 #41 Sheldon Seymour. There will be competition.
133 #2 Ryan Crookham #6 Luke Stanich. I lean you wrestle Crookham and Stanich.
141 #33 Malyke Hines or #6 Luke Stanich or Carter Bailey. Will be hotly contested.
149 #12 Kelvin Griffin vs. 8 man bracket.
157 #24 Max Brignola. Still best option. In era of 7 years, Max will wrestle 4 straight years.
165 #65 Zeke Dubler or #83 Hunter Mays
174 #140 Thayne Lawrence or Dubler or Mays. Convergence weightclass, maybe as many as 10 wrestlers competing for the spot.
184 #73 Jack Wilt or Caden Rogers. Will be contested. At least 4 others on roster.
197 #3 Michael Beard
285 #6 Nathan Taylor

No guarantees.
125, 141, 149, 165, 174, 184 will be highly contested.
133, 157, 197, 285 are near locks.

Enough unknowns again to make the season very interesting. Enough talent that could push for 5 All-Americans.
Still hoping the portal produces Top 12 wrestlers from 165 to 184. As of now, we just are not in the ballpark to be competitive at those weight again.

A guy to really watch next year , IMO, is Jared Schoppe at 174 assuming he can make that weight. If not, he will be a handful for Wilt at 184.

I don't see Rogers back at 184 although all things are possible.

If Stanich doesnt go 141 this year, I'd like to see Bailey at 141. Hines is talented but Bailey has shown sides of a higher upside, like beating Kal Miller who was #11 at the time. Might be worth rolling the dice on him even if he can't beat Hines in a wrestle-off. Sometimes it's just stylistic.

HFO wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 10:00 pm 125 #41 Sheldon Seymour. There will be competition.

You're not kidding - https://youtu.be/6g7lDgGN16c?si=9rLcAD18hQ25ziHX
"Audry Jiminez of Sunnyside High wins 7-5. First Arizona girl to win the boy's state championship"

Possible Max may take a non injury redshirt.

No knowledge, just a possibility.

Haha, I wondered if or how long until somebody started this thread. Tbh, I've started in past years. But for a dose of reality, here's FloWrestling's prediction of our line-up last fall:
125 Seymour
133 Crookham
141 McGonagle
149 Hines
157 Brignola
165 Logan
174 Lawrence
184 Rogers
197 Beard
285 Taylor
Four misses and one at wrong weight. There's so much uncertainty, but I'll go out on a limb and say Taylor at 285 next year. Lock him in.

What are the misses? From 157 up that was spot on before injuries. Seymour was the starter until Stanich emerged and even that wasn't known until??? 141 and 149, OK. But many on this board were thinking/calling for the same thing.

Of note, of Lehigh's top 4 the furthest away was Taylor from Brookville. The previous recruiting classes, which yielded nothing, featured "gets" from Florida, New Hampshire, Ohio and Delaware (granted, the latter not far away).

Zeke has consistently fielded top 10 nationals teams with a few top end guys and the rest of the lineup...eeesh. In the Crookham interview, which was posted on a different thread, he stated that he gets to workout with Stanich, Cruz, Garrett and Henderson (in a different interview). We know what is available in the room from the top end (Zach, Wood and McCoy). Should Lehigh capitalize on this and focus resources on the bookends of the lineup and fill in the middle with capable D-11 kids and, perhaps, "sacrifice" duals for nationals? Or, do additions to the LVWC like Labriola allow for development at those other weights?

martinsilvestri wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 10:34 pm If Stanich doesnt go 141 this year, I'd like to see Bailey at 141. Hines is talented but Bailey has shown sides of a higher upside, like beating Kal Miller who was #11 at the time. Might be worth rolling the dice on him even if he can't beat Hines in a wrestle-off. Sometimes it's just stylistic.

When Stanich goes 141 next season, it will be in a deferred season.

Agree with assessment of Stanich deferring next year.

Sheldon Seymour is a warrior and hopefully he steps up to the AA level next year.
Crookham will be back at 133 and pre-seaosn ranked #1.
Malyke Hines, in my view, did not exhibit any 'fire' in his wrestling this year....as in none. Maybe they sit down with him and explain things: hits the weight this summer, lose fiddling with the hair, be way more aggressive, and finish matches stronger. If he can't do that, then move on and put your Lehigh degree to good use out in the world.
LU has options at 141 besides Bailey (although he is viable.) Didn't both Reinsel and Griffin cert at 141?
Repos is coming off RS at 149. Good from neutral, which with the 3 pt TD, we need. Griffin either has to develop on his feet tout suite or sit. Opponents know how to wrestle him now.
Max Brignola needs to get stronger. No sugar-coating it. He has a lot of other tools and winning qualities but his lack of sufficient horsepower will keep him in the 15- 20 range. Not what Lehigh wants or needs for a 3rd year starter.
Not sure there is a better option at the moment.
The plan is for Mays to go at 165. Question marks here.
Schoppe could be the guy at 174. He'll be big and that's what we need. Lawrence, IMO, should retire and heal his injury-riddle body. It's a shame he is so banged up.
Rogers at 184? What does that solve - that he can make weight? If there is no offense (and there wasn't) then it's a moot point. Wilt is developing. Needs to get stronger. When he does, he'll close out some of these tight losses into wins. Let's not be fooled by his early exit at EIWAs, he's a gamer.
Beard made a big leap this year, mentally, let's hope he can build on that and set his sights on an NCAA title run. Beard will be pre-season ranked top 3.
Taylor had a nice year. Tough weight class. He will be pre-season top 5. The toss R12 loss stung him and it will help in his development. Nothing like a cold bucket of water in the face to let you know what you need to do to take the next step.

In-coming recruits are good and will push what we have to get better. Ziegler may see some mat time (up to 5) maybe Lopes and Skellenger, but all should enter as many events as they can at their fighting weights to simulate live action. No sense in wrestling 'up' during a RS year. Nobody else does it.

I was driving to Lewisburg at the time so didn’t see the match ……but didn’t Wilt have 8th place All American David Key from Navy all but beat in his opening match at EIWA’s before losing at the very end 5-4…….. my son was doing play by play for me while I was driving and my recollection is it came right down to the end with Wilt leading…..

So the ability is there, but agree needs more horsepower and more "big" match experience.......