In Division I wrestling, coaches often say they want their student-athletes to peak in February and March when it’s time for the postseason. 

In 2024, Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro saw his Mountain Hawk wrestlers embrace that mantra. 

Not only did the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based program compile a 7-0 record in EIWA duals, but four Lehigh student-athletes brought home conference crowns in true freshman Luke Stanich (125), redshirt freshman Ryan Crookham (133), junior Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285). With it, the Mountain Hawks extended their string of putting at least one wrestler atop the conference podium to 25 consecutive seasons, and they finished second behind Cornell in the team race. 

The history-rich wrestling program now boasts a rather gaudy 231 individual EIWA champions all-time — 34 of which came over the last 15 seasons with Santoro at the helm. 

Along with the four conference champs, four others qualified for the NCAA Championships — 2024 EIWA finalist junior Max Brignola (157), senior Malyke Hines (141), redshirt freshman Kelvin Griffin (149), and graduate student Jake Logan. 

At the NCAA Championships, Stanich (fifth at 125), Crookham (third at 133), and Beard (eighth at 197) all ended their seasons with All-American accolades. While leading the Lehigh program, the trio represented the #31, #32 and #33 All-Americans for Santoro and his staff.  

“I think coming out of COVID, we were really in a tough spot,” Santoro said. "We didn’t see the guys for about eight months. We didn't train them. So we spent the next year and a half just rebranding our programming and re-identifying our culture because culture is one of the things you always have to keep your thumb on. So that's something we did.

“The goal was to bring like-minded people into the program who have high goals. They're just good people, too, not just good wrestlers. So, we were able to do that. Last year was a fun year; we had a couple of freshmen ( Stanich and Crookham) on the podium. We had a sophomore ( Taylor) in the All-American round. We had Michael Beard placing (eighth). So we feel like we're in a good place this year.” 

Planning For The Future 

Being a head coach in any sport at the Division I level is not easy. You must make tough decisions and do what is best for your athletes individually and your team collectively. Sometimes, though, that means doing what is best for the program in the long term rather than what might be best for it in the current season. 

Academically, Stanich is on a five-year track to graduate. Given that he was cutting significant weight last season as a 125-pounder and has used the offseason to bump up not one but two weight classes to 141, it made the most sense to redshirt him. 

“He jumped two weight classes. It wasn't just one weight class,” Santoro said. “So, at the time, we just (thought) how much time does he need to fill in the weight class at just the weight class? He's hit the ground with his feet running right now, so that's been amazing. But he's such a worker; it doesn’t surprise me.”

Sitting at 7-1 on the year, Stanich has racked up a trio of ranked wins, which include a gutsy 3-2 decision on tiebreaker criteria over a then-top-10 Sergio Lemley. Also, Stanich was on the winning end of a bout with two-time All-American Kai Orine at the Journeyman Classic. That same weekend, Stanch added a strong 8-2 decision over Penn All-American C.J. Composto.

According to Santoro, the decision to redshirt Brignola had long been in the plans for this season. 

“He was planning on going ‘57,” Santoro said of Brignola. “But watching him all summer and fall, he looked so good. And I was having this conversation with him — because he was planning on going to the Bill Farrell (Memorial International) at the time — and I’m like, ‘Why don't you go 74 Kilos (163 pounds)? You look so good. Why cut weight if you don't have to?’

“Because I'm always a believer, if you're between weight classes, go up,” Santoro continued. “Now, sometimes you have to go down and get it for the team. But he looked so good in the fall. I was like, why? Just go up and see how you feel, and he feels great.”

Bignola, like Stanich, already has multiple top-20 wins on the year, including a win over then-# #15 Nicco Ruiz of Arizona State. He also beat a then-#18 Derek Fields of NC State. 

Santoro is optimistic that his decision to defer some of his wrestlers' eligibility will ultimately pay off. 

“I mean (this season), it should be a really good year for us too, but next year could be an amazing year,” Santoro said. 

“So, they're both wrestling really well, but we think it's best for them right now to redshirt and just keep developing, just give them as many chances at winning the national title as they can.”

A “Work In Progress”

At this juncture, the Mountain Hawk wrestlers have competed in four or five events this season, including stops at the Princeton Open in New Jersey and Clarion Open in Pennsylvania to begin the season and the Journeyman Classic at nearby Freedom High School in Bethlehem.  

At all three tournaments, Lehigh has brought home some individual hardware. In New Jersey, 21 Lehigh wrestlers took to the mats at Jadwin Gym. Senior Sheldon Seymour (125) and freshman Logan Rozynski (157) won their respective brackets to take home the title. 

“I think the one guy that's just quietly been getting it done is Sheldon Seymour,” Santoro said of his starting 125-pounder. “He’s having a great season so far, and I'm excited for his match this weekend (with #23 Luke Lilledahl of Penn State, the #1 prospect in the 2024 class). He's just a hard worker and always has been. I think he can place really high this year.”

As for the contingent that went to the Clarion Open, all four participants made the finals, two of whom came away with titles. Brignola (competing unattached) and Beard were at the top in their weights at 165 and 197, respectively. 

Elsewhere, Stanich (competing unattached) and Taylor finished second. Stanich fell in the finals to reigning NCAA champion Jesse Mendez of Ohio State, 14-3. On the other hand, Taylor fell to a returning All-American in Nick Feldman, also of Ohio State, losing by way of a 7-3 decision. 

At Journeyman, 17 Mountain Hawks competed. The trio of Stanich, Brignola, and Beard won it all, taking home the Hammer Award for their efforts. 

Outside of open tournaments, Lehigh has had two dual meets thus far. First, Santoro and the company welcomed EIWA's newbie, Morgan State, to campus. Lehigh put on a show for its hometown crowd, winning 37-7 and taking eight of 10 individual bouts. Of those eight wins, Lehigh had two pins, three technical falls and a major decision. 

“You know, it's good and bad so far. I think we have really bright spots in our lineup,” Santoro said of his team’s 1-1 start in dual meet competition. “We just want to be consistent at all weight classes. And I think Morgan State was a good match for guys; I think we had six new faces in the lineup, which is great.”

Santoro’s return to his alma mater, Pitt, where he was a two-time NCAA champion (1988 and 1989) and the only four-time All-American the University has ever seen, did not go as smoothly as he had hoped. Lehigh lost to Keith Gavin’s Panthers, 18-12.

“The Pitt match, that was a tough one,” Santoro said. “I think both coaching staffs were disappointed that it was too much of a strategic match. It seems like both teams respected each other too much. Yeah, not a lot of action between the two teams. And I think the Pitt coaching staff would say the same.

“There were two one-point matches, one-takedown match (at 133 and 141). I mean, that dual could have gone either way. It just didn't go our way,” Santoro said. “But it doesn't go your way if you're not aggressive, right? I don't think we were. I think we were fighting hard. I don't think we're being as aggressive as we need to be. And I think it is something we have to work on.”

History speaking, Santoro — a 2020 Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame inductee — and the Mountain Hawks lead the all-time series versus Pitt 45-22-2, but the Panthers have now won the last three duals by scores of 21-12, 21-12 and 22-12. 

“You move on from that, you learn from that; we're going to have a great opportunity in front of us on Sunday with Penn State,” Santoro said of Lehigh’s Dec. 8 dual with the #1 Nittany Lions. “We're going to learn a lot from this and keep developing. And we have our Sheridan Tournament in a few weeks (on Dec. 20), which we probably get 20 guys wrestling, so we're going to see a lot more and come back after Christmas, and that's when we really dial in.”

Lehigh will not hit the road again until 2025 when they head to upstate New York for a battles with the Binghamton Bearcats in Vestal (Jan. 11) and the Cornell Big Red in Ithaca (Jan. 12). 

College Wrestling In The Keystone State

The 2025 campaign is unique for Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks do not have to leave the friendly confines of the Keystone State terribly often with five home dual meets and two home open tournaments. Lehigh will host EIWAs the second weekend in March before heading to nearby Philadelphia for the NCAA Championships two weeks later. 

That said, Lehigh’s signature non-conference dual of the season is just days away. The Mountain Hawks will host top-ranked and three-time defending NCAA champion Penn State on Sunday at a sold-out PPL Center in Allentown. 

This marks the 112th time the perennial powerhouse wrestling programs have met, including their 2017 matchup year when the Mountain Hawks and Nittany Lions set a Lehigh home dual record attendance record of 9,896. 

“This weekend's obviously exciting, right? They’re the #1 team in the country, you always have to be excited about that, right?” Santoro said. “You have so many opportunities up and down the lineup. Everybody has an opportunity to wrestle someone great. So I'm looking forward to that. It’s the same thing we wrestle with Cornell or, in the past, the (Oklahoma) State or the Iowa (teams). It's always fun to wrestle those elite teams, elite wrestlers.”

For Santoro, filling his nonconference matchups with tough, nationally ranked opponents is an easy decision. It boils down to the simple fact that he wants his guys to compete against the sport's best. 

“We want to challenge ourselves against the best teams. And that's also what you're doing when you are wrestling (individually). You want to see the best,” Santoro said. “You have to be excited about every opportunity you have to wrestle with highly ranked teams and highly ranked individuals. That's why you're doing this. You're trying to challenge yourself to be the best version of yourself.”

While this dual is likely to feature ranked vs. ranked bouts at a handful of weights, fans will not see Mountain Hawk heavyweight Taylor face the defending champ in #2 Greg Kerkvliet, as Taylor suffered a season-ending injury during the first weekend of the season. 

Check out FloWrestling’s full dual meet preview and predictions for this Sunday’s showdown, where 125, 133, 141, and 197 are likely your must-watch bouts. 

Lehigh will also face other top-tier teams and ranked foes later this year, such as Cornell, Penn, Arizona State, and others.       

The Importance Of Belief

As fans saw during Lehigh’s 2024 postseason, many Lehigh starters have shown that they are right on the verge of taking that next step, whether that be breaking through to the podium, contending for a title this year in Crookham and Beard’s cases or even breaking into the starting lineup.

Santoro said he believes that the only thing standing in the way of making those next jumps in performance is their ability to “be in the moment” and “have belief.”

Santoro admitted that while these things may seem simple, they are more challenging to execute than one might think. 

“There's a belief system you have to have. It's the difference between a guy winning and not winning. A lot of (this sport) is one guy just believes a little bit more,” Santoro said. “When you have a strong belief system (in yourself), it doesn't matter what's happening during a match; you're just going to continue to wrestle because you really believe you're going to find a way to win. It doesn't have to be pretty, right? You don't have to be the best wrestler to win a match. Once you're in that match, like you could be having the worst match in your life, and you throw a guy to his back. You just find a way to win the match.”

A New-Look EIWA Postseason

There has been a significant change in college wrestling in recent seasons. The 2025 postseason will also look slightly different in the EIWA because the Ivy League institutions will not participate. 

Rather, the six Ivy League schools with Division I college wrestling programs — Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Penn, and Princeton — will have their own conference tournament.  

“Personally, I wish the Ivy League (schools) stayed. I talked to some of the coaches in the Ivies. I think a couple of them wanted to stay, but the votes went through, and they didn't get to stay,” Santoro said. 

“It’s a great conference. I think it's gonna be really competitive this year. I think Army's got a great team, Binghamton, Navy and Drexel … The smaller tournament opens up more avenues for more teams to win. It could be making that more fan-friendly, too.”

While Lehigh’s season still has much to unfold, Santoro is encouraged in the months ahead. 

“I'm excited for our young guys to see how they develop. We just finished November. So we're so early in the season,” Santoro said. “We still have a lot of development to do. We really see our guys start to kick off, usually in January or February. So, I'm excited to see where young guys go. And see who, who's that guy that makes jumps at the next level.”

Catch Lehigh's home duals this season live on Flowrestling, including Sunday's battle with top-ranked Penn State.