With the start of a new athletic year, Seton Hill University (SHU) has again decided to add more sports teams to the school’s athletic programs. This year brings the addition of the new wrestling team, which will be run by head coach Chris Elliot and assistant coach Jeff Breese.
Elliot comes to SHU from Mercyhurst North East, where he was the head wrestling coach from 2004-2006. Elliot attended Slippery Rock University (SRU) after serving five years in the U.S. Navy. He earned a 106-52 record while at SRU, was a three-time Division I National Qualifier, and was once East Regional champion. With previous experience coaching in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), Elliot was excited to accept the head coaching job here at SHU.
By Rachel Prichard,
Staff Writer
With the start of a new athletic year, Seton Hill University (SHU) has again decided to add more sports teams to the school’s athletic programs. This year brings the addition of the new wrestling team, which will be run by head coach Chris Elliot and assistant coach Jeff Breese.
Elliot comes to SHU from Mercyhurst North East, where he was the head wrestling coach from 2004-2006. Elliot attended Slippery Rock University (SRU) after serving five years in the U.S. Navy. He earned a 106-52 record while at SRU, was a three-time Division I National Qualifier, and was once East Regional champion. With previous experience coaching in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), Elliot was excited to accept the head coaching job here at SHU.
�It was the opportunity to start something new; it’s a clean slate for us,� said Elliot.
This year Elliot has the chance to mold the program right from its start in the NCAA. The wrestling team does not have to deal with changing from NAIA regulations to the NCAA regulations like many other sports teams here at SHU.
How did the Athletic Department decide to add a wrestling team to SHU? Executive athletic director, Chris Snyder, made the decision to add the program because of the popularity of the sport in Western Pennsylvania.
Snyder said, �Wrestling has a strong recruiting base for students in general.�
High school students from the area will now have a university close by where they are able to be recruited for wrestling.
This year’s team is made up of nine wrestlers, with five hailing from Pennsylvania and four from Maryland.
With official practices set to start October 18, the team will not be competing in a dual meet season, but will be wrestling in open tournaments.
Since wrestling is technically more of an individual sport, all the wrestlers will be considered red shirts this season.
�When they do that (red shirt status) they just wrestle unattached and not representing the school,� said Elliott. �Each year we will probably have some wrestlers doing that, but with this being our first year we brought in a limited number of recruits,� he said.
The team is still recognized by the NCAA and in line with the regulations. The wrestling scholarships are also recognized as athletic scholarships by the NCAA even though they are a provisional team.
Some of the wrestlers are receiving both athletic and academic scholarships.
Hopes for the success of the team in their inaugural season are high.
Buck Watkins, a sophomore, wrestled last year at Mercyhurst as a freshman and transferred to SHU to join the wrestling team.
�I hope the team will understand the importance of teamwork and how much harder college wrestling is compared to high school,� Watkins said.
Both Elliott and Snyder hope the team is successful and would like to see a growth in the number of wrestlers in the future.
�I am hoping we will eventually have 25 to 30 members,� said Snyder.
Though the team does not have any home meets this season, their first open tournaments are Saturday, November 4, at West Liberty University and Sunday, November 5, at Washington and Jefferson College.
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