The wrestling team at Seton Hill University (SHU) is trucking through the season with a lot to show for it when looking at the results from early matches and the National Catholic Invitational’s among the standings of some specific team members.
By Megan Seigh
Sports Editor
The wrestling team at Seton Hill University (SHU) is trucking through the season with a lot to show for it when looking at the results from early matches and the National Catholic Invitational’s among the standings of some specific team members.
Coach Chris Elliot broke down the standings from the invitational, “I anticipated having a strong showing but fell short with no champions. Kenny Trumbetta and Nick Padezan finished second; Trumbetta is capable of beating Fleming, Gannon wrestler he lost to, and will have that opportunity at least once more this season before the Regional Championships. Padezan was the first seed at a weight class higher than what he is going to finish the season. He wrestled a true 197 pound wrestler and lost a close match. Josh Testa and Dallas Evans placed 3rd, while Logan Downes (in one of the toughest weight classes) placed fourth.”
Elliot acknowledged some individual efforts from the season thus far, “Kenny Trumbetta had a great summer with a lot of focused conditioning and technique sessions which helped his performance last year and also attributed to his being selected by the team as a Captain. Also selected as Captains were returning Captains from last year Nick Padezan, and Josh Testa along with newly selected captain Nick Nichols.”
“We were hoping to get into the top 3, and were close to doing so. We had a few guys that didn’t compete. So with that being said we did well,” said senior Nick Padezan.
“Every year our team matures, because the team is fairly new, we are just now starting to have some seniors and upper classmen on the team that have more college wrestling experience and its beginning to show,” said junior Josh Testa.
It is still early in the season for SHU wrestling but they have already beaten teams that they could not beat in previous years.
Testa explains, “Our schedule was not made to be easy, we wrestle in the strongest and largest region in the country. This will help us in the long run and although the teams are tough, we have the coaching and talent to compete with any of them.”
With some wins under their belts, the team still notices and acknowledges the improvements they should make for future matches and future seasons.
“This year we are concentrating on fixing the previous mistakes we have made and have full intentions of advancing to nationals. The difference between this year and last is depth. We have a number of people at each weight class. We can fix a whole anywhere in the line up if it needs to be done. This was something we lacked in previous seasons,” said Testa.
“Our preseason conditioning was similar to last year with a few minor changes; our biggest change was doing the first four weeks of preseason at 6:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. We did this so as to get them used to the multiple changes that they will face in a seven-minute match. I do not make predictions but our goal is to finish the season stronger than we started,” said Elliot.