The path to winning the 2011 Clash National High School Duals title got considerably tougher with today’s announcement that Brandon (Brandon, FL) will be joining next season’s field of thirty-two teams.

Brandon, led by Head Coach Russ Cozart, finished the 2009-10 season as the #4 ranked team in the nation.

Brandon has won twenty-one Florida state championships since 1977, including the last ten in a row. They hold the longest winning streak in the history of high school sports – 459 victories from 1973-2008. In 2005 Brandon had the distinction of having the most nationally ranked wrestlers on one team in the nation. The Brandon program has produced seventy-seven individual state champions and 173 individual state placewinners. The Brandon wrestling program was featured in the 2008 ESPN documentary “The Streak”.

Recent high-profile Brandon wrestlers include Franklin Gomez, Josh Lambrecht, David Craig, Rocky Cozart, Joe Cozart, Cesar Grajales, and Eric Grajales.

“Brandon has lost just one dual meet in the last 37 years. Their travel still needs to be approved by their local school board, but we’re thrilled and honored to to have a chance to showcase this national powerhouse,” stated Clash Tournament Director Steve Patton.

According to Patton, the credit for landing this nationally recognized team goes to Randy Cirksena, Steve Elwood, Ryan Thomas, and Kent Harfmann who make up the Clash recruiting team.

With only half of the tournament’s teams determined so far, Brandon joins an increasingly tough field of teams for next year’s Clash Duals, including (2010 Rankings) #1 Apple Valley (MN), #12 Simley (MN), #13 Montini Catholic (IL), #14 Wisconsin Rapids (WI), #17 Waverly-Shell Rock (IA), #23 Roseburg (OR), and #27 Grand Island (NE).

The 9th Annual Clash National Wrestling Duals will be on January 7th-8th, 2011 at the University Center Rochester Field House in Rochester, MN.

NCAA Division I Wrestling Coaches Panel Rankings 
Through Results of 1/18/2009 
Rank Wt Class Name School 
1 125 Paul Donahoe Edinboro 
2 125 Troy  Nickerson Cornell 
3 125 Brandon Precin Northwestern 
4 125 Angel Escobedo Indiana 
5 125 Charlie Falck Iowa 
6 125 Tyler Clark Iowa State 
7 125 Scotti Sentes Central Michigan 
8 125 James Nicholson Old Dominion 
9 125 Zachary Sanders Minnesota 
10 125 Rollie Peterkin Pennsylvania 
11 125 Joey Fio Oklahoma 
11 125 Anthony Robles Arizona State 
13 125 Obenson Blanc Oklahoma State 
14 125 Mike Watts Michigan 
15 125 Jarrod Garnett Virginia Tech 
16 125 Marcos Orozco UC Davis 
17 125 Nicholas Bedelyon Kent State 
18 125 Brad Pataky Penn State 
19 125 Brandon Zoetewey Cal State Bakersfield 
20 125 Anthony Mustari Northern Colorado 
21 125 Jay Ivanco Clarion 
22 125 Nikko Triggas Ohio State 
23 125 Steve Bonanno Hofstra 
24 125 Prescott Garner Navy 
25 125 Ian  Moser Bloomsburg 
26 125 Brian Owen Boise State 
27 125 Bernard Futrell Illinois 
28 125 Michael Martinez Wyoming 
29 125 Derek Reber Bucknell 
30 125 Chris Albright Pittsburgh 
31 125 Thomas Williams American 
32 125 Brendan Byrne Maryland 
33 125 Caleb Flores University of Northern Iowa 
 
 
1 133 Franklin Gomez Michigan State 
2 133 Reece Humphrey Ohio State 
3 133 James Kennedy Illinois 
4 133 Daniel Dennis Iowa 
5 133 Andrew Hochstrasser Boise State 
6 133 Nicholas Fanthorpe Iowa State 
7 133 Jayson Ness Minnesota 
8 133 Steve Bell Maryland
9 133 Mike Grey Cornell 
10 133 Jake Strayer Penn State 
11 133 Joe Baker Navy 
12 133 Lou Ruggirello Hofstra 
13 133 Tyler Dillashaw Cal State Fullerton 
14 133 Rick Deubel Edinboro 
15 133 Dan Mitcheff Kent State 
16 133 Christopher Notte Oklahoma State 
17 133 Matthew Fisk Lehigh 
18 133 Todd Schavrien Missouri 
19 133 David Marble Bucknell 
20 133 Tristen DeShazer Northern Illinois 
21 133 Kyle Hutter Old Dominion 
22 133 Jimmy Conroy Pittsburgh 
23 133 Conor Beebe Central Michigan 
24 133 Michael Rappo North Carolina 
25 133 Thomas Kimbrell Cal State Bakersfield 
26 133 Matt Bonson Virginia 
27 133 Brian Shelton Oklahoma 
28 133 Sean  Clair Eastern Michigan 
28 133 Eric Metzler Northwestern 
30 133 Will Livingston Virginia Tech 
31 133 Cory  VomBaur Wyoming 
32 133 Matthew Vacanti Nebraska 
33 133 Kelly Kubec Oregon State 
 
 
1 141 Alex Tsirtsis Iowa 
2 141 Zach Tanelli Wisconsin 
3 141 Nick Gallick Iowa State 
4 141 Corey Jantzen Harvard 
5 141 Kellen Russell Michigan 
6 141 Chris Drouin Arizona State 
7 141 Ryan Williams Old Dominion 
8 141 J Jaggers Ohio State 
9 141 Tyler Nauman Pittsburgh 
10 141 Joe Caramanica North Carolina State 
11 141 Cody Cleveland Chattanooga 
12 141 Michael Thorn Minnesota 
13 141 Marcus Hoehn Missouri 
14 141 Drew  Lashaway Kent State 
15 141 Alex Krom Maryland 
16 141 Anthony D'Alie Central Michigan 
17 141 Jamal Parks Oklahoma State 
18 141 Keith Sulzer Northwestern 
19 141 Christopher Diaz Virginia Tech 
20 141 Seth Ciasulli Lehigh 
20 141 Vincent Ramirez North Carolina 
22 141 Frank Molinaro Penn State 
23 141 Nick Nelson Virginia 
24 141 Cory Fish Boise State 
25 141 Tim Harner Liberty 
26 141 Christopher Bencivenga North Carolina-Greensboro 
27 141 Andrae Hernandez Indiana 
28 141 Elijah Nacita Cal State Bakersfield 
29 141 Trevor Melde Rutgers 
30 141 Ryan Prater Illinois 
31 141 Joel Webster Edinboro 
32 141 Matthew Mariacher American 
33 141 Adin  Duenas Cal State Fullerton 
 
 
1 149 Brent Metcalf Iowa 
2 149 Bubba Jenkins Penn State 
3 149 Darrion Caldwell North Carolina State 
4 149 Lance Palmer Ohio State 
5 149 Kyle Ruschell Wisconsin 
6 149 Bryce Saddoris Navy 
7 149 Jake Patacsil Purdue 
8 149 Steven  Brown Central Michigan 
9 149 Kyle Borshoff American 
10 149 Matthew Kyler Army 
11 149 Cesar Grajales Pennsylvania 
12 149 Matt Cathell Delaware State 
13 149 Kyle Terry Oklahoma 
14 149 Trevor Chinn Lehigh 
15 149 Heinrich Barnes Oregon State 
16 149 Nicholas Stabile North Carolina 
17 149 Mitch Mueller Iowa State 
18 149 Jason Chamberlain Boise State 
19 149 David Jauregui West Virginia 
20 149 Torsten Gillespie Edinboro 
21 149 Michael Roberts Boston U. 
22 149 Peter Yates Virginia Tech 
23 149 Matthew Fittery Lock Haven 
24 149 Desmond  Green Buffalo 
25 149 Luke Silver Oklahoma State 
26 149 Daniel Meagher Cornell 
27 149 Kevin LeValley Bucknell 
28 149 Andrew Sherry Missouri 
29 149 Robert Sanders Nebraska 
30 149 Barrett Abel UC Davis 
30 149 Ryan  Adams North Dakota State 
32 149 Mitchell Polkowske Northern Colorado
33 149 Mark Powell Pittsburgh 
 
 
1 157 Gregor Gillespie Edinboro 
2 157 Jordan Burroughs Nebraska 
3 157 Michael Poeta Illinois 
4 157 Jordan Leen Cornell 
5 157 J.P. O'Connor Harvard 
6 157 Adam Hall Boise State 
7 157 Cyler  Sanderson Iowa State 
8 157 Dan Vallimont Penn State 
9 157 Michael Chandler Missouri 
10 157 Matt Moley Bloomsburg 
11 157 Robert Erisman Oklahoma State 
12 157 Chase Pami Cal Poly 
13 157 Kurt Kinser Indiana 
14 157 Scott Winston Rutgers 
15 157 Matt Dragon Pennsylvania 
16 157 Jason Welch Northwestern 
17 157 Shane Vernon Oklahoma 
18 157 Tyler Safratowich Minnesota 
19 157 Jonny Bonilla-Bowman Hofstra 
19 157 Jason Johnstone Ohio State 
21 157 Jedd Moore Virginia 
22 157 Joseph  Knox Chattanooga 
23 157 Kody Hamrah North Carolina State 
24 157 Jesse Dong Virginia Tech 
25 157 Michael Kessler Rider 
26 157 Hadley Harrison Clarion 
27 157 Tyler Grayson Central Michigan 
28 157 Thomas Scotton North Carolina 
29 157 Sean Bilodeau Lehigh 
30 157 Derek Sickles Columbia University 
31 157 Anthony Jones Michigan State 
32 157 Joel Ahern Navy 
33 157 Aaron Hynes Michigan 
 
 
1 165 Mack Lewnes Cornell 
2 165 Ryan  Morningstar Iowa 
3 165 Moza Fay University of Northern Iowa 
4 165 Colt Sponseller Ohio State 
5 165 Stephen  Dwyer Nebraska 
6 165 Jonathan Reader Iowa State 
7 165 Nick Marable Missouri 
8 165 Jarrod King Edinboro 
9 165 Andrew Howe Wisconsin
10 165 Trevor Stewart Central Michigan 
11 165 Brandon Mason Oklahoma State 
12 165 Andrew  Rendos Bucknell 
13 165 Luke Manuel Purdue 
14 165 Chris Brown Old Dominion 
15 165 Mike Galante Lehigh 
16 165 Keegan Mueller North Carolina 
17 165 Roger Smith-Bergsrud Illinois 
18 165 Scott Glasser Minnesota 
19 165 Tyler Sherfey Boise State 
20 165 Keegan Davis Oregon State 
21 165 Ryan Patrovich Hofstra 
22 165 Rick Schmelyun Bloomsburg 
23 165 Ryan Smith Oklahoma 
24 165 Zack Shanaman Pennsylvania 
25 165 William Garvin Chattanooga 
26 165 Matt Epperly Virginia Tech 
27 165 Paul Young Indiana 
28 165 Rex Kendle Michigan State 
29 165 Jason Lapham Rider 
30 165 Brian Letters Maryland 
31 165 Ethan Headlee Pittsburgh 
32 165 Nick Amuchastegui Stanford 
33 165 Matt Pletcher Rutgers 
 
 
1 174 Steve Luke Michigan 
2 174 Brandon Browne Nebraska 
3 174 Michael  Cannon American 
4 174 Jay  Borschel Iowa 
5 174 Steve Anceravage Cornell 
6 174 Raymond Jordan Missouri 
7 174 Christopher Henrich Virginia 
8 174 Mike Miller Central Michigan 
9 174 Alton Lucas Hofstra 
10 174 Jeff James Oklahoma 
11 174 Quentin Wright Penn State 
12 174 Ryan Burk Iowa State 
13 174 Kurt Brenner West Virginia 
14 174 Alex Caruso Lehigh 
15 174 Nathan Lee Boise State 
16 174 John  Dergo Illinois 
17 174 Austin Trotman Appalachian State 
18 174 Newly McSpadden Oklahoma State 
19 174 Shane Onufer Wyoming 
20 174 Luke Rebertus Navy 
21 174 Jacob Ison Ohio 
22 174 Trevor Perry Indiana 
23 174 Kyle Bressler Oregon State 
24 174 Scott  Giffin Pennsylvania 
25 174 Travis Rutt Wisconsin 
26 174 Mendbagana Tovuujav George Mason 
27 174 Hunter Meys Boston U. 
28 174 Tyler Bernacchi UC Davis 
29 174 Shane Riccio Bucknell 
30 174 Eric Decker Old Dominion 
31 174 Mike  Whalen Rutgers 
32 174 David Rella Ohio State 
33 174 Nicholas Corpe Purdue 
 
 
1 184 Jake Herbert Northwestern 
2 184 Mike  Pucillo Ohio State 
3 184 Philip  Keddy Iowa 
4 184 Kirk Smith Boise State 
5 184 Dustin Kilgore Kent State 
6 184 Doug  Umbehauer Rider 
7 184 Louis Caputo Harvard 
8 184 Joshua Patterson Binghamton 
9 184 David Craig Lehigh 
10 184 Joe LeBlanc

Eric Grajales, at the
ripe old age of 19, is having a mid-life crisis.In just a few months the nation’s best wrestler will no
longer wrestle for Brandon High School. At 7 pm on February 21, 2009, Grajales will don the white Brandon Wrestling
singlet for the last time.He
won’t cry, but for a moment he will be at his introspective best.His entire life, all he has ever wanted
to do was wrestle for Russ Cozart and the Brandon Eagles.
“What am I going to do when I don’t wrestle for Brandon
anymore,” he thinks.“While some
of my classmates wanted to be veterinarians, or whatever, all I ever wanted to
do was wrestle for Brandon.”
The nations’ best high school wrestler is also a member of
the nation’s most historic team.A
documentary was filmed a year ago about the team’s season.It has a Hall of Fame Coach, in Russ
Cozart.The Brandon High School
Wrestling Eagles own the world’s longest winning streak in any sport at any
level, after winning 459 straight dual matches.This team, it’s all he’s ever known, all he’s ever
wanted.
Imagine having everything you ever dreamed and wished for,
and having to leave it behind.Now
you know how Eric Grajales feels.
Eric Grajales’ story as a Brandon Wrestler doesn’t start in
a sweaty, musk gym.It doesn’t begin
by watching the WWE on television and a chance meeting with a neon-colored
flyer.   His initiation began
exactly 28 years ago when Cesar Grajales, a wrestler at Pinellas Park fell head
over heels in love with Leslie Baker.Ironically, their first meeting was at a football game.
“It was very uneventful,” Leslie recalls.“We just knew from the start that we
belonged together.”
The longest the two have been away from each other was
during the summer months following Leslie’s sophomore year of high school.Young Cesar had to travel north to work
in his uncle’s auto shop to save money so that, during the wrestling season, he
didn’t have to.After that, the
two traveled north together whenever Cesar had to go.
“We’ve been living together, basically, since I was 17,”
Leslie says.“All we had was each
other.We knew we wanted to give
our kids everything and give them the opportunities we didn’t have.” The two love birds moved north permanently after Leslie’s graduation.However, Leslie became home-sick, as
living in New Jersey, she knew no one except Cesar.She returned home to Florida in late November.Predictably, the relationship hit a
rough patch, as the two had to decide whether to continue the relationship or
possibly, break up.The decision
was made for them on a chilly night on Christmas Eve.
Leslie’s mother, tragically, passed away after being
involved in a car accident.There
was never another discussion about breaking up.Cesar stayed in Florida to console Leslie, and never left her
side.
The two eventually had children, three in all, in Anthony,
the oldest, Melissa and finally Eric.
Cesar and Leslie eventually started their own business,
Rubber City, Inc., an auto shop in St. Petersburg.A highlight of their dedication is the hour drive to work
that the Grajales’ brave every day.The burgeoning business afforded them the ability to dote on their three
highly successful children.
Anthony, known in wrestling circles as Cesar, was a
top-ranked recruit himself and is enrolled at Penn.Melissa is a future law student, attending the University of
Florida. Eric is the youngest and you can see that his personality is an amalgamation of
his siblings and parents.Eric has
the compassion of his mother, the work ethic and leadership of his brother, the
mental toughness of his highly independent sister, and the sense of humor and
vision of his father.Eric is the
kid that lights up the room, is always ready with an intelligent quip and the
one who leads by example.
Big Cesar, is the architect behind the success of both of
his boys.After transferring to
Brandon his senior year, he always knew he wanted his boy or boys to wrestle
for Cozart.He knew Cozart would
push his kids the same way he pushed every one of his other wrestlers.Through wrestling, his boys would have
the opportunities he never did – namely, go to college.
After Anthony turned 5, the Grajales traveled twice a week,
an hour away to practices in Brandon for the elementary-aged kids. “Our lives changed forever,”
Leslie says. What followed was Cesar doing everything possible one father could do to ensure
the success of his children.His
boys and other future Brandon wrestlers traveled the country, looking for the
best matches and the best competition - all in an effort to become the best
wrestlers possible. “The goal was never to be good in Florida,” Cesar says.“It was to be good on a national
level.” Tulsa Nationals was one of the largest national tournaments the boys went to.Anthony and Eric both came within a match
or two of placing their first time competing.After that, Big Cesar decided that the boys would focus only
on wrestling.No more peewee
football or baseball. “They [Eric and Anthony] were not happy about it,” Cesar says. Showcasing his strength and determination, Eric made a deal with his dad.He told him he would wrestle at Tulsa
Nationals and win, and that the next year he was playing football. “I said deal,” Cesar says.“The
next year, just like he said, he won it.”
Early on Cesar decided that he would lead by example.When they would work out, Big Cesar
would lift alongside his boys.Father and sons would go on 5k runs.He would take them to wrestling camps and take notes.He made sure they saw that he was
willing to do the same things he expected them to. “The desire to win is important,” Cesar says.“But the desire to want to train hard is much more important.”
And so, Eric’s life has always been co-driven.As father and coach, Big Cesar played
the role with delicate aplomb. “Every now and then it gets kind of annoying,” Eric says.“Especially when you’re cutting
weight.But we try to be honest
with each other 100% of the time.We each understand the other one’s position.”
Eric started wrestling sometime after he turned 3.From the beginning, working out with
the Brandon Wrestling Club and Coach Cozart, he has been a phenom. “I thought he was a little ball of fire,” Cozart remembers.“He was all muscle, really aggressive
and a really good wrestler, even then.” His talent apparent, Eric admits that Cozart was the right coach for him.
Because Eric Grajales is no saint.
“I wasn’t a bad kid,” Eric says.“But I like to push people to their limits.He [Cozart] always put me in my place.”
On a day that Eric states was probably a bad one for Coach
Cozart, he added fuel to the fire.While warming up, jogging around the mats, Eric and workout partner
Austin Figari decided that pushing the other wrestlers would be a better warm
up.Coach Cozart didn’t
agree.He sent the two deviants to
do push-ups in the corner.
“At first, we were making jokes, laughing,” Eric
remembers.“After about 20, 30
minutes it got old, and after 45 minutes we’d do about 3 or 4 pushups every 5
minutes or so.”
The two did pushups the entire practice… all ninety minutes
of it, and Eric got the point.Not
that he didn’t continue to push the boundaries, but he knew when to back
off.He realized Coach Cozart
would help him become the wrestler he so desperately wanted to be, but he
realized it would be by Cozart’s rules. Russ Cozart fostered and developed Eric’s ability the only way he knew how. It was the only way he coached and it
was the same way he coached his own two sons – hard work.The Brandon Wrestling Club opens the
door for wrestling every day. Russ Cozart is wrestling, 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week.Much in the same way he
busts his own tail on a daily basis, he expects nothing less from his
wrestlers. Eric picked up on that.His
earliest memories are of a bearded Cozart, wrestling in open tournaments right
along side his own sons, Rocky and Joey. Saturday’s were a family day, with the Grajales’ and whomever
else from the Brandon Wrestling Club decided to travel.Through trips to cities such as Las Vegas,
Atlanta, Chicago and Oklahoma City, Eric has seen much of the country’s sports
arenas.He loved every minute of
it, and it didn’t hurt to have teammates of similar mind.
Every wrestler who joins the Brandon Wrestling Club dreams
of one day having their name placed on The Wall.It is the place where all of Brandon’s 70 State Champions
have their name marked under their weight class and year.While it is common for athletes to
dream big, it is unholy common to have athletes, plural, work big.Every week
of Eric’s life at least 2 times a week, he trained with the Brandon Wrestling Club.And every week, at least 4 times a
week, the club was filled to the brim with other kids with the same dream and
the same work ethic.
Coach Cozart’s greatest accomplishment isn’t the 459 dual-match
winning streak, it isn’t the 19 Team State Titles he’s won, and isn’t the 139
All-Americans he’s coached.It’s
the culture he has created, where coming to practice year-round and doing so with
your fullest effort isn’t enough.
At Brandon, you’re expected to come to every practice.You’re expected to work hard in
practice, every day.You’re
expected to wrestle tournaments every Saturday.You’re expected to win a State Title.You’re expected to be an
All-American.And while at most
programs you have 2 or 3 guys who are willing to pay the price, the Brandon
Eagles average 20 – 30 wrestlers at every practice.If Coach Cozart says there is 5 am run
on Christmas morning, you can bet that everyone will show up. This atmosphere, this camaraderie is what Eric craves.He eats it up, he lives it, and he
basks in it.It’s a lot easier to
go through practice with 20 other guys suffering with you.
Monday through Friday it was intense training with constant repetitions.On Saturdays it was time to compete,
and win.Coach Cozart is a
realist. While he understands and coaches his kids to enjoy the work and
practice necessary, deep down, it’s about winning.It’s about winning wrestling matches week in and week out
because your opposition is not training as intense, or as often, as you are.
It is no coincidence, then, that Eric Grajales will continue
the next chapter of his illustrious career at the Division I school of his
choice.
That next chapter will start in Ann Arbor, Michigan.On October 14, he committed to Coach
Joe McFarland and the Wolverines. That the Number 1 ranked recruit in the nation got away from the likes of Iowa,
Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Minnesota isn’t that much of a surprise.It happens a lot more in collegiate
wrestling, than say, NCAA Division I football, where powerhouses like USC and
Florida build a veritable storehouse of talent.Thanks to a scholarship limit of 9.9, there is a lot more
competition for the best recruits.Still, for a wrestler not even to consider the supposed “top” schools is
an anomaly.
“I wanted a balance between academics and athletics,” he
says.“Not to say they aren’t good
schools, but Iowa, Iowa State, it doesn’t add up.”
Consider, Eric Grajales is one of those kids.Beyond
Michigan, he considered and visited Cornell, Penn and Columbia.That’s Ivy, Ivy, Ivy and then one of
the nation’s best public schools.When it comes to academia, Grajales is Einstein with a suplex.
“I have a 4.78 GPA,” he says. “I guess I have good genes,
because I never study.”He says
this with a shadow of arrogance and a lot of gratitude.
Remember that kid?The one who rarely does homework, rarely studies, rarely stays awake in
class and still manages to pull a 97 on every test?That’s Eric Grajales.He remembers everything, the first time.Absolutely nauseating to the rest of common society, he
admits, that, if anything, his grades should be better.But he doesn’t try, and he doesn’t have
to.Because even when he doesn’t
try, he’s still better than average.
Brandon High offers AP Calculus to those few daring and
intelligent individuals looking for a challenge in the discourse of math.At 7:25 in the morning, Eric Grajales
saunters into the classroom, sits in his desk, and goes to sleep.
A certain recipe for failure for the other 95% of the
population, Grajales sleeps his way to two C’s.His mother received a phone call at least twice a week from
his Calculus teacher, expressing concern that Eric was sleeping in class, and
that he was not reaching his full potential.
“His teacher would literally have him stand next to his
desk,” Leslie recalls.
“It didn’t seem to have a point,” Eric says with disgust.
Couple that with the daily three-hour grind sessions that
Coach Cozart’s practices are known for and the extra 3 or 4 mile run at 8
o’clock every night and you have one really disinterested Calculus
student.That he pulled a C is a
testament to his intelligence.Even without caring, without being even marginally interested or
involved Eric Grajales passed a class a majority of Americans have never even
seen the book cover for.
His achievements in Honors and AP classes in addition to his
first-try score of 1240 on the SAT afforded him opportunities most secondary
students only dream of.But he
always knew he’d go to a good school.He expected it.His parents
expected it, and it was never in doubt.Now he simply had to make the first real big decision of his life.He made a check list.
Great Academics
Great Wrestling Teammates who share same goals Coach I can Trust to push me
The weather was the only thing that did not play a part in
his decision.Living in the
Sunshine State, Eric knew wherever he went, it would be cold.
“Whether its -10 degrees or 0, it’s still cold,” he says.
New York (Columbia) and Philadelphia (Penn) were just too
big, and Ithaca (Cornell) was too small. “I couldn’t see myself in a big city like New York or Philadelphia,” he says.
“I know it would be too much of a distraction.At the same time, I didn’t want to be in the sticks.”
And there was something that itched him the wrong way when
he took his visit to the Ivy Schools.
“A lot of the guys had different intentions.They wanted to get amazing degrees and
wrestle along the way,” he says.“I want to win an NCAA title and have great academics.”
Predictably, Grajales had a great time when he took his
official visit to Michigan.
“They’re supposed to show you a good time,” he says without a hint of
naiveté.“But even when we weren’t
out doing something, I could, just, you know, hang.All of the wrestlers, were just, wrestlers.”
The wrestlers talked about bringing home the school’s first NCAA
Team Championship.They talked
about working hard and pushing each other in practice every day.The more they talked, the more Grajales
respected these guys.He felt the
same camaraderie that he felt when he talked with his Brandon teammates back
home.
Grajales respects wrestlers like you respect a NAVY
SEAL.“People don’t understand
what wrestlers go through,” he says with a bit of anger seeping out.“If you’ve never done it, you don’t
know anything in my book.”
Grajales isn’t talking about wrestling for four years as a
high school wrestler.
He’s talking about logging over 10,000 miles in extra
running, just to make weight.He’s
talking about giving up every single Spring Break to train at the Olympic
Training Center, sometimes three times a day.He’s talking about wrestling year round and traveling
annually to Vegas and Fargo, ND.He’s talking about training 4 -5 days a week in the so-called
off-season.He’s talking about
sacrificing meals, plural.He’s
talking about not going to the movies with friends.He’s talking about not hanging out with a girlfriend who
worships at your feet.He’s
talking about not being at home for months on end to train in a sport where you
are thrown on your head in practice.
He’s talking about sacrifice.Grajales, like every other elite athlete, is married to his
craft.For better or worse, in
success and defeat, sacrifice is the unforgiving bitch of a wife who needs your
attention like an unborn child needs an umbilical chord.The training that is necessary to
compete for wrestling is far more taxing than anything a boxer or an MMA
fighter experiences.Imagine
training for the biggest fight of your life, every week for 11 months.While boxers and MMA athletes train
with similar intensity, they do not train at a similar length.An elite boxer and/or MMA athlete train
for, max, 2 or 3 fights a year.
But Eric can’t help himself.As much as he’d like to spend more time with friends or eat
that second helping of his Mom’s Cajun Chicken Alfredo, he can’t.He loves to win.He loves to have his hand raised, while
his opponent’s head nods in defeat.Much in the same way a symphony was meant to be appreciated by an
audience, Eric Grajales loves to put on a show for any and everyone watching
him.The bigger the crowd, the
better.
“I want to get my hand raised in front of hundreds,
thousands of people,” he says.“I
love that pressure.” Due to his incessant
quest for training, it has only been on rare occasions that Eric has not had
his hand raised.He has never lost
a Greco-Roman match at the nation’s most prestigious junior/high school
tournament – code name Fargo. The Asics Cadet and Junior National Championships,
held annually in Fargo, ND, is, ‘where
State Champs go to die.’
It is the world’s largest tournament and it is also the
single most important tournament in a sport where scholarships at the Division
I level are scarce.Place top
eight in this tournament, where it is not uncommon to have more than 70
competitors in a single weight class, and you can pretty much punch your ticket
to a Division I school.
Or, you can just beat Eric Grajales.
Like adding seasoning salt and pepper to any dish, wrestling
is Eric Grajales spiced up.As if
wrestling wasn’t easy enough, he wants to do it, thrives on it.Nothing
inspires him like stepping on the mat.He feels at his best, most complete and happiest inside that circle.He wants to destroy every opponent he
faces.  
Eric Grajales wants your mother to scream in terror and for
your girlfriend to be embarrassed of you.He wants to feel the moment that your mind tells your body that it’s not
worth it to fight back - give up. If
at all possible, he would not feel in the least bit guilty if some poor soul
quit the sport after a thrashing.It would be a compliment.Step on the mat with a bear, and prepare to be mauled.
There is nothing cautious about Eric’s wrestling.There are those wrestlers who approach
a match like playing chess with your great aunt and her arthritic wrists.Slow and methodical is not the
preferred pace.
Ike Anderson’s official title is Greco-Roman Developmental
Coach.He’s the guy responsible
for finding and honing the abilities of the next crop of American Greco-Roman
wrestlers.A style where attacks
below the waist are forbidden, Americans, have been, historically, deficient at
the World and Olympic Level.
Greco, does not in any way resemble, Folkstyle, the style employed
by American High Schools and College.Folkstyle wrestling much more closely resembles Freestyle, a style
associated with names like Dan Gable, John Smith and Cael Sanderson.It’s no wonder then that, as the
nation’s #1 high school wrestler, Eric will stake his claim as a force to be
reckoned with as a Freestyle competitor during the next Olympic Cycle.
Nope.
“Eric hates freestyle,” Anderson says with delight.“I’ve never met a kid like him.He’ll do Folkstyle, then in March,
Greco.He’ll wrestle Freestyle for
Team Florida at national tournaments, but that’s it.”
Even at a young age, Eric has always been great at
Greco.
His American age-group opponents were mastering the gut
wrench.This move starts as your
opponent is lying prostrate on the mat and your hands are locked on or above
the waist, heads facing in the same direction.Driving your feet like a sprinter off the blocks, and
keeping your hands locked, in one continuous motion, you roll and arch your
back, ultimately finishing in the same position you started.
Meanwhile, Eric had mastered the crowd-pleasing,
mother-hating Reverse Lift.The
move that made 3-time Olympic Champion Alexander Karelin the most feared
wrestler ever, is, and has always been Eric’s favorite move.Opponent prostrate on the mat, Eric
positions himself atop and to the side of his opponent, forming a T.While facing his opponent’s feet he reaches
over his opponent’s waist with one hand, the other scooping underneath. Eric
locks his hands, stands straight up and arches his back, lifting his, now
defenseless, opponent chest high, arms and legs flailing.As Eric’s back arches in a backwards
crescent motion, his arms drive his opponent into the mat at a 90-degree angle.
The top of the cranium is often the first body part to feel the mat. It is the most vicious move possible, in the world’s most vicious sport.
Cozart remembers that during Eric’s first year of wrestling,
the Brandon Wrestling Club made the reverse lift a part of its daily practice
regimen. “I remember watching some little kids at a tournament doing it,” Cozart
says.“I thought, hey, if they can
do it, why can’t we?” Cozart warns that the move is not as simple as it looks, nor as spontaneous as
it may seem.It takes hours upon
hours of practice and years of experience to be able to hit it consistently on
good wrestlers.You love Thanksgiving,
Eric loves reverse lifting.He’s
added his own personal touches, and over the years has learned to make adjustments,
on the fly, depending on how his opponent reacts. Try to “dead-weight” yourself and he’ll load you up on his
knee.Try to circle behind his
legs, and he’ll pivot his heel and spin accordingly. Try to run him over and he’ll straighten his back, his hips
exploding with such force that his back and knees force his body into a perfect
‘I.’ If Eric Grajales gets his hands locked in the reverse lift position –
enjoy the ride.
Anderson first saw Eric wrestle at the FILA Cadet Nationals
in Chicago.  He watched him
repeatedly reverse lift every opponent he wrestled.He was just 14.
“You’re talking about a move that, at that age is not
common,” Anderson says.“It is
common for the Europeans, who don’t even know what Folkstyle or Freestyle
is.At an early age he was hitting
moves that guys on the University and Senior level do.He was like a European.”
That Anderson compares Eric to a European may be the highest
compliment possible.Our friends
across the ocean focus on one style their entire lives, and at a young age, are
taught with the same system that creates World and Olympic Champions.In Russia, you must have at least a
master’s degree in physical education to become a coach.Imagine having a John Smith or Dan
Gable at every high school in the nation, and the effect it would have on the
development of our athletes.Eric
was wrestling like them.
There were no holes in
his Greco, nothing he was not athletic enough to do, no move he didn’t pick up
the first time.He’s so good he
can see a move once, and five minutes later, try it in a match, and hit it
perfectly.He would try to score
at every opportunity, with no regard for the score, no regard for
position.Anderson watched this
phenom and knew that if he didn’t get Eric to understand that defense wins
championships he wouldn’t reach his full potential. “I told Eric, if you score 12 points on a guy and he scores 13, you’ll lose,”
Anderson recalls.“He didn’t think
it was important and that was the thing I worked on the most with him.”
Ike Anderson is responsible for the Eric Grajales that now
inhabits the Greco Circuit.Whenever Eric would venture to the Olympic Training Center the two would
work on Eric controlling himself, staying in positions that would keep his
opponent from scoring on him.At
the top of the to-do list was Eric’s gut-wrench defense, of which, Eric had
none.The endless drilling,
learning how to fight the gut wrench properly using your hips as a weapon,
completed him. Ironically, it also gave him a gut wrench that he can hit on almost
anybody.Slowly, Eric decided that defense was important.
“I’m always worried about my attacks,” he says.“Ike didn’t necessarily want to slow me
down, but he wanted me to be more meticulous.He wanted me to keep my elbows in and not take all the
chances.”
He finally put it all together last March at a tournament in
Bulgaria.
“I finally saw that he was getting it,” Anderson says with
satisfaction.“He finally grasped
the concept.”
In addition to his vast array of offensive weapons, Eric had
made himself near-impossible to score on.After placing third, Anderson knew his star pupil was ready to wrestle
at the Senior Level.
Eric called Anderson for advice some weeks after that
tournament.He was thinking about
wrestling at the US Senior Open.He wanted Anderson’s honest opinion on whether or not he should even try
it.Anderson assured Eric he was
ready. Anderson was so certain that he fought for Eric to get seeded.Eric wasn’t a trailblazer, as wrestlers
in high school had wrestled in and done well prior on the Senior Level.That he was considered to be seeded in
the top 8 was, however, noticeable.He had never competed at the Senior Level, although he had practiced
with some of the guys who did.The
first question at the coaches meeting that would determine the seedings, was, why?Why did Eric deserve it over guys who had, at the least,
wrestled in the Senior Division?
Anderson, armed with the knowledge that he personally knew Eric was ready not only to compete,
but win, rattled off his list of accomplishments.Former Greco Athlete of the Year, 2-time Junior World Team
member (losing only to the champion and third-placers) and 3-time Fargo Greco
Winner.A few of the other coaches
in the room, including Steve Fraser, The National Greco-Roman Head Coach, had
seen Eric wrestle and they all agreed he deserved a seed.
Seeded seventh, Eric, in short, wrestled the tournament of
his life.
“It was crazy, he hadn’t even trained that much [Greco]
prior to it,” his father says.“It
was great timing with the fact that he had peaked for the State
Tournament.So he was in great
shape and shortly after State there were a ton of guys in the room training
with him. He wrestled the best I have ever seen.”
When the tournament was over, Eric was not the National
Champion, but he had wrestled above his seed.He finished fifth, again losing only to the eventual
champion and third-placer.Along
the way, he scored the most points in the tournament, scoring a technical fall
in every one of his wins.To score
a technical fall Eric had to outpoint his opponents by at least 6 points in two
separate periods or score a 5-point throw (think, reverse lift). His talent, his drive, his work ethic, his ability, his potential, was on display
at the best time possible.He had
qualified for the Olympic Trials as just a high school junior.Although he wouldn’t make the Olympic Team,
or place, Eric had cemented himself as the possible future of Greco Wrestling. At about 8:25 on February 21, 2009 Eric Grajales will complete his career as
Florida’s second 4-time undefeated State Champ.He will etch his name into the conversation as possibly
Florida’s greatest wrestler ever.
He will be at his introspective best.
Damn, what do I do
now?

Ian McCutcheon
FloWrestling 
Season previews are kind of pointless.  October is a time for questions, most of which can’t possibly be answers until March.  Take the theme of last year’s previews for example.  Minnesota was going to score the most points in NCAA history, Iowa was inexperienced and had distractions to overcome, Dustin Schlatter was ready to prove his 3rd place finish was a fluke, and Jordan Leen’s parents were the only people thinking title.  As history tells us, this was all flawed logic.  Basically, what I’m trying to get at is predictions are useless.  Instead I want to focus on two major categories to flesh out my preseason thoughts, what we know will happen during the season, and what we’re sure we’re going to find out.  Here is my mega-NCAA season preview. 
What We Know 
Iowa will be tested:  Are the Hawkeyes the favorite?  No doubt about it.  No lineup can match the firepower they have with Charlie Falck, Joey Slaton/Daniel Dennis, Alex Tsirtsis/Dan LeClere, Brent Metcalf, Jay Borschel, and Phil Keddy all high AA or title threats.  But they certainly aren’t invincible.  The questions at 133 and 141 are problems any coach would love to have, but it also takes the right type of athlete to be able to deal with a competition like that.  It’ll also be seen how team morale is be affected with two potential All Americans on the bench, especially if they are seniors.  Beyond those issues, there also are plenty of teams with enough ability to dethrone Iowa.  Iowa State seems to match up well with the Hawkeyes and has plenty of potential champs.  Cornell could score a ton of points at the tournament and welcomes back Troy Nickerson to an already stacked lineup.  And Ohio State appears to have an even stronger and more mature line up, which is impressive considering their second place finish a year ago.  Iowa is the pick for now, but by no means is it in the bag. 
There will be a freshman that everybody is talking about:  People like what’s new.  Combine that with how prevalent high school wrestling is on the national scene and people love to anoint true freshman as contenders.  This year could look a lot like 2006, which saw two freshman in finals.  The high school class of 2008 is one of the strongest in years.  Plenty of blue chippers with eschew red-shirts and compete as true freshman.  All reports seem to have Quentin Wright jumping right into the lineup at Penn State.  Wright has a resume that included a number of wins over college wrestlers, and has created buzz no Penn State freshman has received since Cary Kolat.  Andrew Howe at Wisconsin is another hot name and with 165 lacking a lot of stars, he could end up with the best postseason finish of anyone in his class.  But most of the attention is focused on the fictitious rivalry at 157 between Scott Winston of Rutgers and Jason Welch of Northwestern.  Welch has received Metcalf/Schlatter/Nickerson like hype, and has a skill set that is matched by few.  Winston is a bull of a wrestler, and helps legitimize the Rutgers program, a perennial sleeping giant.  There was plenty of debate as to who the best recruit in the country was, and now their supporters will get to see. 
Someone will get hot early:  We saw it last season with Darrion Caldwell and Lou Ruggirello.  Somebody will come out of the gate and annihilate all comers.  This will announce them as a player on the national scene.  It’ll be somebody who is a pinner, since falls garner the most attention.  By January, whoever this is will have cooled down, whether it be unspectacular wins over lesser opponents, or a loss to another ranked wrestler that “exposes” the early season phenom.  By March they’ll be back off the radar, then surprise people when they make a run at NCAAs.  My pick: Corey Jantzen blows through the early part of his schedule and impressively wins Vegas. 
Pat Santoro is a good coach:  One of the most anticipated matches of the season is the Pat Santoro Bowl, which will pit Maryland against Lehigh the second weekend of the season.  The program Santoro built will come to fruition this season, where the Terps are loaded, and could put ACC wrestling back on the map.  More on that later.  Meanwhile, Santoro is taking over a once proud Lehigh program seemingly falling on hard times.  They will be noticeably better, especially from their feet, where they struggled mightily the past few years.  Santoro will diversify the Hawks offensively, and look for at least one of their young wrestlers to blossom into an All American contender.  They won’t be dormant for long, especially once he gets his kids in there. 
Somebody will come out of nowhere to win a title:  We think we know, but we really have no idea.  The beauty and the curse of college wrestling is that all it takes is one good weekend to cement your name among the immortals.  The trick is seeing it coming.  Weights like 141 and heavyweight are so wide open this season that somebody from outside the top ten or the traditional power conferences very well could sneak up on everybody.  Just don’t be surprised when it happens. 
Not everybody will repeat:  History tells us that about one third of defending champs defend their title.  Angel Escobedo, J Jaggers, Brent Metcalf, Jordan Leen, and Mike Pucillio all return with a target on their backs.  Escobedo (Indiana) and Pucillio (Ohio State) both have to deal with bona fide studs returning to their weight classes, Jaggers (Ohio State) is getting little respect from pre-season prognostications, and Leen (Cornell) was the biggest surprise in recent memory.  Only Metcalf seems to be a heavy favorite to repeat.  He very well may be the only one. 
The buzz weight is 157:  There are three wrestlers this season ranked at 157 that have won NCAA titles in their career.  And the best wrestler at 57 might not even be one of them.  Gregor Gillespie (Edinboro), Jordan Leen, and Dustin Schlatter (Minnesota) all have titles to their name.  Gillespie is as exciting as anybody in the sport; Leen had the toughest road to finals of anybody and is the defending champ.  And Schlatter, the former second coming, will be the most scrutinized wrestler in America after a tough junior year.  But the favorite here might be Mike Poeta of Illinois, who is probably the best current wrestler without a title.  He lost a classic to Leen in finals last season, and should be loaded for bear this year. Beyond these four, there also is Dan Vallimont of Penn State, who was the most improved wrestler in America, J.P. O’Connor of Harvard, who could not be more underrated, returning All Americans Cyler Sanderson of Iowa State and Matt Moley of Bloomsburg, plus Adam Hall of Boise State, Johnny Bonilla-Bowman of Hofstra, Matt Coughlin of Indiana, and a slew of other guys that could end up on the podium.  In my opinion, this year’s 157 is even better than last season’s 149.  No weight class will be more exciting. 
What We Will Find Out 
Can Metcalf do it? Last season, Mr. Metcalf put together one of the most impressive performances in recent memory, rolling easily through a stacked weight class to win a national title and the Hodge Trophy in his first year of competition. The trick now is repeating the feat, which may not be as easy as advertised.  No wrestler has repeated at 142/149 since Pat Santoro in 1988.  That is twenty years worth of very good wrestlers that couldn’t defend their title.  149 is always loaded.  Even though Metcalf has navigated the mine field once, he’s the man to beat now instead of the newcomer looking to make his mark.  To quote the great Charles Barkely “There’s no such thing as a second year slump, they just didn’t know who your ass was.”  They know who Metcalf is now, and every 49 pounder in the country is training specifically to beat him.  He very well might repeat, but it won’t be as easy as advertised. 
How has the year off treated Jake Herbert and Troy Nickerson?  Because of the Olympics and injuries, we were without two of the biggest stars in college wrestling last season.  Jake Herbert of Northwestern is back to defend his title at 184, with infinitely more questions than answers.  He was a wrecking ball two years ago, but has a number of head scratching losses in his year off, including a folkstyle defeat by Jake Varner of Iowa State, who he pummeled in finals the year before, and a freestyle loss to Tyrell Todd of Michigan.  Both of these competitors fell to Mike Pucillio last season, who now wears the belt at 184.  If the 2007 version of Herbert shows up, he should win.   But who knows what a year off will do.  Nickerson on the other hand was bit by the injury bug.  He challenges Poeta for the distinction of best current wrestler without a title.  He’s come dangerously close twice.  But there are questions both about his recovery and where he will wrestle this season.  Common logic seems to think he’ll make 125 again, in a weight class that is suddenly ruled by Angel Escobedo.  For both wrestlers, they are welcomed back to a completely different landscape and a new mountain to climb. 
Will moving up help?  A number of high profile wrestlers are moving up a weight class this season.  The strategy certainly paid off for guys like Chad Mendes and Eric Tannenbaum, but the wrestling community always seems to think that the farther the cut, the better (just look at the David Craig speculation).  Some of these guys will definitely buck common logic.  For Dustin Schlatter, I think the move up to 157 could be a great one.  His offense has all but disappeared, and he hasn’t been healthy in three years.  He was gigantic for 149, and I can’t help but think the cut was killing him.  When healthy, he’s as good as they get.  Furthermore, I’m pulling for the kid.  He’s too talented to not have a great senior year.  Jake Varner moves up to 197, where he begins the year ranked 1st by most publications.  Varner is an immovable object, and I don’t think the 13 pound jump will hurt him defensively.  He, however, moves into a loaded field where the contenders match his strength.  It will be even more imperative for him to generate offense, which is certainly not his MO.  I also wonder if he’ll be as effective on top against the big boys.  Most of the contenders here are physical specimen, and Varner will be hard pressed to overpower them.  Jayson Ness was a monster for 125, and there is no surprise he moves up.  Until his finals match, he was all but crowned the champion, and has lost almost all of his buzz coming into this year. But make no mistake, he might be the favorite at 133.  I think his skills will translate smoother to the higher weight class than Varner, who he is similar to.  He lives on top, but his half series is made for the lower weights.  JP O’Connor, Matt Kyler, Mike Grey, Adam Hall, and Tyrell Todd are other potential All Americans who will try to get it done by moving up. 
Which surprise champs are for real?  All offseason long Jordan Leen and J Jaggers have heard that they were fluke champions, and that they’d be hard pressed to duplicate the feat.  Each had tremendous weekends, and knocked off the best wrestlers in their weight classes.  Their titles were well earned.  But both will face the added challenge of being the defending champ.  For some, a title gives them a new fire, and they wrestle better than ever.  Others wilt under the pressure of being the champ.  Leen is faced with battling the toughest weight class in the country.  Repeating would be admirable.  However, Jaggers is just scratching the surface of how good he can be.  Especially if he’s healthy (which is always a problem), I see his run being like Joe Dubuque or Matt Valenti, defending champs who received little or no acclaim, then came back and ran through the tournament. 
 Who is this year’s Nebraska?  Off season jokes aside, Nebraska was beyond impressive last year.  Before the year started, they were just outside the national radar.  They had the pieces in place to compete, but had yet to prove they were a real player.  By the end of the year, they were a top 3 team, and announced the rejuvenation of the program.  This year, the Wisconsin Badgers are the team lurking to join the top 5.  The Badgers feature returning potential All Americans Kyle Ruschell, Dallas Herbst and Kyle Massey.  Massey and Herbst both could win titles, and they are experienced and steady at 141 and 184.  Barry Davis has an experienced and battle tested core which should mix nicely with the best recruiting class in the nation.  The aforementioned Andrew Howe will definitely start and depending on the situation in the room, we may see Ben Jordan.  These two certainly are talented, and balance the Badger lineup to the point where team hardware may be in their future. 
What teams will crash the party? With the new qualifier system as well as a shifting balance of power among mid-majors, it is entirely possible that we will be seeing a handful of new teams creep into the upper echelon of college wrestling.  Obviously the Big Ten and Big 12 will always be the big boys, but the Pac-10 and ACC could start stealing spots from the EIWA, MAC, and EWL sooner rather than later.  Boise State is in the middle of this transformation, and has the firepower to finish in the top 10.  I really like Adam Hall and Kirk Smith this year to be in the title mix.  They are the great hope for the western part of the country.  Oregon State is a few years behind the Broncos, but also will be a perennial contender in the coming years.  Virginia and Maryland are also on the move.  The Cavaliers will field a solid team, filled with NCAA qualifiers.  Look for breakout years from Mike Chaires, Ross Gitomer, and Nick Nelson.  Meanwhile, Maryland is setting the blueprint for rebuilding a mid-major from scratch.  There are justifiably high expectations in College Park.  Hudson Taylor is a popular pick to win 197 and if he wrestles, Mike Letts is due to All American at 174.  But the Terps strength comes in their rising crop of stars.  Steve Bell, Eric Medina, and Brian Letters all have earned pre-season rankings, and each could make a leap from good to special.  The Terps also have sleepers in Brendan Byrne and Alex Krom who are both tough and vastly underrated.  That is seven wrestlers they could score points from, and their showing could be the start of the return of the ACC. 
Who makes “the leap”?   Every year, there are guys that make the leap from good wrestler to All American caliber.  Sometimes it takes a coaching change, sometimes it’s a change in attitude, sometimes it’s just a year of maturity.  But there are stars out there waiting for it to happen.  Here is one at each weight class.  At 125, everybody forgets how good of a wrestler Brad Pataky is.  He took rare back-to-back redshirt years because of the Olympics, but he was one of the best high school wrestlers in America, and will contend in an open weight class.  At 133, Reece Humphrey puts it all together.  He’s had an amazing few runs in the summer, and his hard work in freestyle will translate to folk finally.  As I mentioned earlier, with a year under his belt Corey Jantzen will be a force at 141.  At 149, Cesar Grajales does not receive the hype of his little brother, but is ready to be an All American.  Although Penn has had a difficult offseason, the movement of guys up to 157 opens the door for his breakout year.  Last year, 157 saw the biggest leap when Dan Vallimont announced his presence as a star.  This year, Adam Hall will put it all together.  At 165, Donnie Jones has had a career full of injuries.  If he is finally healthy, he will be the next in a long line of Jones brothers to star for West Virginia.  At 174, as mentioned before, if Mike Letts does not red-shirt, he will be a huge point scorer for the Terps.  He’s had two disappointing NCAA tournaments, but won’t have a third.  At 184, Edinboro’s Chris Honeycutt lives up to his St. Ed’s pedigree.  Tim Flynn is among the best coaches in the country, and Honeycutt helps Edinboro live up to their “little powerhouse that could” billing.  At 197, the pride of Idaho Clayton Foster gives the Oklahoma State Cowboys another hammer at the top to go along with Jared Rosholt.  At heavyweight, Lehigh will receive a boost from red-shirt freshman Zack Rey, who in a shallow weight class could find himself in position to be a four-time All American, and the start of Pat Santoro’s rebuilding project.