Lehigh's Luke Stanich Takes Out Two All-Americans For 141 Journeymen Title
Lehigh's Luke Stanich Takes Out Two All-Americans For 141 Journeymen Title
Lehigh's Luke Stanich beat two All-Americans at the 2024 Journeymen Collegiate Classic which begs the question, how long will Lehigh keep him in redshirt?
Last season, Lehigh's Luke Stanich capped an impressive true freshman campaign with a 5th place finish at the NCAA Championships. By all accounts, Stanich is too big for 125 lbs this season, and since the Mountain Hawks have the #1 ranked 133-pounder in the country, Ryan Crookham, this seemed like the perfect year for Stanich to use his redshirt. But now, 10 days into the season. Stanich is competing unattached at 141 lbs where he has two victories over All-Americans and another over a top-ten ranked opponent. He's making a strong case to be Lehigh's starter up two weights from where he competed just a few months ago.
Stanich's success means the Lehigh coaching staff has a tough decision on its hands. Their current starter is four-time NCAA qualifier Malyke Hines. He's been a staple in the Mountain Hawk Lineup and is hoping to use his final year of eligibility to get on the podium. He started his season at the Princeton Open last weekend where he earned a tech fall over Princeton's Jacob Mann then injury defaulted out of the tournament.
Luke Stanich started making noise last week at the Clarion Open against Michigan's Sergio Lemley, the #8 ranked wrestler in the country at 141 lbs. Stanich won a calculated 3-2 tie breaker bout. The victory was impressive, but the low score left some questions about whether Stanich could get to his offense against the best 141-pounders in the country.
Luke Stanich's victory over Sergio Lemley
He may have answered that question today. Stanich earned a third-period takedown to upset NC State's two-time All-American Kai Orine at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic then defeated Penn All-American CJ Composto 8-2 in the finals. Notably, Composto took out NC State All-American Ryan Jack earlier in the day.
Luke Stanich's victory over Kai Orine
The season is still quite young, but Luke Stanich's strong start is hard to ignore. Pat Santoro and the rest of the Lehigh coaching staff may have a tough lineup decision to make this season, but the rest of the wrestling world can keep an eye on Bethlehem, PA to see which of the solid options the Mountain Hawks go with for the rest of the season.
Luke Stanich's victory over CJ Composto
