Looking Ahead: 2011-2012 Season Wrap-Up

This is part two in a two part wrap-up series. Here, we take a look ahead at the future of the program. Part one focused on the season that was.

The 2011-2012 season wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Nothing went quite as planned and many of the season’s most exciting parts were completely unexpected. In retrospect, this is part of what made the season so memorable; nobody knew what to expect on any given night.

Moving forward, it’s fair to expect the unexpected. With a whole cast of new wrestlers coming into the fold and the wrestlers already on the roster poised to make noticeable strides next season, about the only thing that is fair to expect from next season will be that next year’s team will be even better than the one that preceded it.

“The future of this program looks great,” senior Matt Fullowan said. “We had a young team and many of them stepped up for us this year. With another recruiting class coming in, it’s only going to get better. Coach [Mike] Rogers and coach [Matt] Greenberg are both coaches that will keep working hard to get this program to where it needs to be.”

While the emergence of this year’s freshman class was remarkable, producing consistent contributors such as Rick Durso, Robert Ruiz, and David Hershberger, the coaching staff believes next year's incoming class has the raw ability to at least match, and hopefully exceed, the production the program received from this year’s freshmen.

Going forward, few things will be as important as bringing in solid recruiting classes on a yearly basis. After their first full class together, both Rogers and Greenberg are excited about what the upcoming class can bring to the table.

“We have ten kids coming in,” Greenberg said. “It’s a good mix and we really added depth to our lineup. We’re really excited. We have a bunch of state place winners in the mix. Hopefully even a state champ. It’s a mix of guys from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, so we really don’t have to go too far to find the talent that we need.”

“The guys we have coming in, they’re just as talented and maybe even a little bit more than the guys we brought in before them,” Rogers said. “That’s the stuff that counts. Each year you want to bring in a more competitive recruiting class. The guys coming in are going to be hungry; they’re not going to concede anything and they’re going to challenge our guys for spots."

“That’s what you want; competition brings out the best in everybody,” Rogers added. “I think every one of the guys we have coming in next year realizes that and understands that. We have a team concept that the best guy gets to compete … everything’s on the table.”

While bringing in a talented freshman class is critical to the long-term health of a program, oftentimes some of the best performers emerge from the group already on board. In the process of taking the next step, both Rogers and Greenberg will be expecting a lot out of the current freshman class—including those who didn’t see much action on the mat this season.

“We had such a talented first-year class,” Rogers said. “I think next year, with all the young guys we had in the lineup, they’ll bring that experience back and they’ll have a more dedicated summer. They understand what this level is like now. I think all these freshmen are really talented.”

Greenberg is also excited to see what guys like Adam Schroeder and Isaiah Cromwell, freshmen who didn’t wrestle all that much over the course of the season, contribute now that they’ll have a full summer to train at the division one level.

“We put very high expectation on each of our guys,” Greenberg said. “We’re never happy when [one of them] isn’t performing. All of them like winning and they don’t like losing. They expect it of themselves. We want them to expect to win, to qualify for nationals, and we want them to expect to be All-Americans and that’s what we’re going to put on them.”

While the Diplomats are certainly bringing in a lot of young talent and will be leaning on some of their younger members to have significant impacts next season, they will be losing a class of four strong seniors. Next year will be light on upperclassmen, as Eric Norgard will be the lone senior and the junior class will be composed of Andrew Murano and Colin Lahiff.

Despite the low numbers of upperclassmen returning next year, Murano is excited and believes the team will make significant strides regardless.

“Eric is a good kid, a good wrestler,” Murano said. “He’ll do really good job of setting the bar. The depth we’ll lose because of the seniors who graduate this year will hurt us, but we have a lot of good freshmen filling in for them. Coach [Rogers] recruited a lot guys in the upper weight class to come in and fill in for the seniors who are graduating.”

“In terms of only having one senior and two juniors, I don’t think it’s going to affect us as much as everyone thinks it will,” Murano added.

Going forward, there will be big shoes to fill. Colin Ely, Matt Fullowan, Matt Latessa, and David Pucci all were consistent leaders in the locker room. They all contributed to the team in their own unique ways, and the coaches came to expect a lot from them as the season progressed.

That being said, there is no shortage of potential leaders on the roster. Norgard and Murano both matured as wrestlers this year and the team will look to Richard Durso, fresh off his trip to nationals, to continue to evolve and develop as a leader.

In short, while there will be some noticeable turnover on the roster and the Dips will be looking to replace a fair amount of talent come November, there are a number of potential leaders and talented wrestlers waiting to assume the leadership role.

Much like this season, the 2012-2013 campaign will likely be exciting, unpredictable, and filled with surprises. If this past year proved anything, it’s that what is expected won’t likely happen. But that’s why everyone comes back every year: for the unexpected. If this year is any indication, what is unexpected will be the most common thing of all.

Through it all though, F&M wrestling will likely take another step towards reaching its goal.

“I think both individually and as a team we achieved our goals [this year],” Durso said. “But with that always comes room for improvement. With coach Rogers we are really building a great program and the future is looking bright.”

The future may be unclear and a little murky at times, but it is certainly promising. Although F&M is trying to claw back from the proverbial wrestling cellar, it’s making progress. Perhaps the only thing that shouldn’t come as a surprise next season will be if the Dips continue to improve.

All the pieces are there; now it’s time for the Dips to put it all together.

Looking Back: 2011-2012 Season Wrap Up

This is part one in a two part wrap-up series. Here, we take a look back at the season that was. In part two, we’ll take a look ahead at what’s to come for F&M wrestling. Keep an eye out for part two later this week.

Perhaps it wasn’t what they had expected or hoped for. Maybe it wasn’t the smoothest ride. It could have been that the team stumbled out of the gate and that it took a little longer than everyone wanted for F&M wrestling to hit its stride during the 2011-2012 season. In reality, it was probably a little bit of everything. But just because it wasn’t what the team was hoping for back in October doesn’t mean it was a disappointment or a failure. On the contrary, the 2011-2012 wrestling campaign gave the team hope and the expectation that next year will be even better.

In short, F&M wrestling accomplished almost everything it set out to accomplish. They just took a few detours along the way.

“I think our start of the season was not very good,” said assistant coach Matt Greenberg. “We did not perform the way we had hoped and it took us a little while to do so. That being said, we also had a lot of young guys in the lineup and it was going to take them a little time to find their way and kind of compensate for the jump from high school to college.”

“As the season progressed, we kind of had a mixed bag,” Greenberg continued. “We had Rick Durso, Matthew Fullowan, and Colin Ely lock down the lineup in the sense that we knew we were going to get three wins every match we wrestled, which is a big step up from where we have been in the past. Getting them to where they needed to be was a huge plus and their success I think elevated the guys around them. Nobody wanted to be the guy who didn’t perform well in that particular dual meet. Towards the end of the season, the guys stepped up and we got those three wins against teams that a year ago, we weren’t beating.”

For sophomore Andrew Murano, who will be an important cog in the lineup next season as the Diplomats look to make strides once again, the improvement from his first season here to this one has been quite noticeable. In his eyes, the program is on the rise and will be competing at an even higher level in seven months when it comes time to hit the mats once again.

“I think the program is on the rise. We have a lot of young guys and our lone national qualifier was a freshman this year, so it’s a sign of a lot of good things to come,” Murano said. “It’s just looking good. Everything is starting to click. [Head coach Mike] Rogers has only been here two years and everything is already starting to come together. I am definitely excited to be a part of this.”

Rogers, the architect leading the rebuilding process, has seen the signs of progress that Murano mentioned. It’s a process, and while some tough times accompany every good moment along the way, the man charged with turning a once floundering program around is encouraged by what he saw on the mat this season.

“From the beginning of the season to now, I think our team has made significant progress,” senior Matthew Fullowan said. “We started off slow and turned it on towards the end of the season. We also had a very young team and needed a lot of freshmen to step up into the starting lineup and they all impressed me. At the end of the season, we were able to place four people at EIWAs and sent one person to nationals, so the future of the program looks promising.”

For Greenberg, the clear low point of the season was the team’s trip to the Navy Classic back in November. Despite entering the tournament with high expectations and with the anticipation of walking away from Annapolis having proved to the world they had made strides in the past year, the Diplomats failed reach those self-imposed goals and left wondering how they would turn the season around.

Fortunately, the team found its spark rather quickly, and the team bounced off its low point instead of staying at rock bottom as many teams starting so many freshmen would.

“I think the Mat-Town tournament, where Durso took third and Fullowan and Ely were in the finals [was the turning point],” Greenberg said. “I think that was our coming out party. What we were doing was working. For Rogers and I, it was a relief because up until that point we were wondering if we were working them too hard, were we not teaching them enough technique; we weren’t sure what we were doing wrong. That was the turning point.”

Following the Mat-Town Invitational, it took awhile for F&M to snag its first dual meet victory, but for anyone watching the Dips closely, the improvement was obvious. Matches were closer, there was more intensity, and there was a sense that the Dips were no longer the stepping-stone for everyone else in the conference.

When that first win did come against Sacred Heart on February 4, however, it was a sweet feeling for the team. There was little Sacred Heart could do against the Diplomats, and the victory turned into a stepping stone of their own. The Dips closed out the season by stomping out Gettysburg and routing Millersville for the second consecutive season to keep the Rupp Cup in Lancaster.

It all culminated in a strong showing at EIWAs, where F&M placed four wrestlers, something the program has not done in recent memory. Durso’s trip to St. Louis to compete in nationals was another highlight for the program. This is the second consecutive year F&M has sent someone to compete in nationals, something else the Diplomats have not been able to lay claim to in quite a few years.

“I think having representation [at nationals] is huge for your program. There were a lot of teams who didn’t get anybody out there,” Rogers said. “Just being in the arena in some of the big guys is great. That’s what’s great about wrestling, you can take one guy or you can take ten guys and you’re all still on the same level going in.”

F&M may have taken a roundabout way of getting to where it was originally hoping to be. Along the way, it’s safe to say the Dips failed in some places they expected to succeed, succeeded at times when they expected to fail, and at the end of the day, are a lot more mature and have a far better understanding what must be accomplished if they want to one day compete with the elite wrestling programs.

For F&M, even though it ended the season on a high note, now is not the time to relax and reflect. The time to get to work is now, as that is the only way they will reach the heights that will certainly be expected of the Diplomats next season.

“In a nutshell, was the season perfect? No. Were we happy with our results? No. Did we come out of it with excitement for next year? Absolutely,” Greenberg said. “We’re never satisfied. If we were, it would be time to retire.”

Beyond the Mat - Adam Schroeder

Not everybody knows what he or she wants to do right away. Sometimes, they need a little encouragement.

“I started wrestling actually by accident,” F&M wrestler Adam Schroeder said. “My mom decided to sign me up for it as a winter sport and I kind of had a knack for it even when I was little. I just stuck with it.”

Schroeder, a freshman this season, believes he eventually became hooked on wrestling because of his parents’ willingness to let him figure out what he enjoyed by himself. They always encouraged him and gave him all the resources necessary to succeed, but they always let Schroeder find his own way.

“Once we saw that wrestling was my thing, my dad started taking me to other places to wrestle and to meet people. But they never really forced me to do anything, which is good,” Schroeder said. “A lot of kids get burnt out and they just end up hating the sport. They influenced me a lot with hard work and stuff like that, but they never forced me to do anything.”

Like everyone else on F&M’s roster, Schroeder is pleased with his decision to pursue wrestling. It has taught him about hard work and dedication; two of the positive traits just about everyone mentioned.

“Wrestling has taught me a lot about … hard work and dedication,” Schroeder said. “A lot of the things a father tries to teach you wrestling just reinforces. I would definitely be different if I hadn’t wrestled. It’s helped with discipline, working hard, and just getting through things.”

For Schroeder, once he began wrestling, it was difficult for him not to do it all the time. The sport came naturally to him; it was hard for Schroeder to stop wrestling when the sport came to him so easily and he enjoyed it so much.

That being said, it wasn’t easy. Despite his success in middle school, Schroeder’s transition to high school wrestling was difficult. It couldn’t have been too challenging, however, as he always knew he wanted to pursue wrestling at the next level.

“Middle school was a lot of wrestling. I wrestled 100 matches a year from sixth until eighth grade,” Schroeder said. “I won a nationals championship in fifth grade. High school was a little different; it was a lot harder to adjust. It was more difficult. Wrestling was something that I just picked up easier [than other sports].”

“I knew I wanted to wrestle in college and I knew this was a great place.”

Despite some of F&M’s more recent struggles, Schroeder was never deterred. Like many of the other freshman wrestlers on the squad, he was enticed by the opportunity to start something new. For this year’s freshmen, F&M wrestling is like a clean slate; it is the first recruiting class head coach Mike Rogers brought together himself and there are countless opportunities for this class to leave its mark.

“I always…I kind of like the idea of starting something new,” Schroeder said. “[Assistant coach Matt] Greenberg said something that really sold me, ‘You’ll be coming in [to F&M] with eight new best friends.’ That’s something that appealed to me because I was never really that close with my high school teammates.”

“I didn’t really care about the history because both Greenberg and Rogers were All-Americans and I believed in them,” Schroeder added.

There was little hesitation in Schroeder’s voice when asked whether or not, so far, Greenberg’s words have rung true. Thus far, Schroeder does truly believe he has forged eight new friendships that will stick with him long after he graduates from F&M.

“I do,” Schroeder said when asked about whether or not he believes he has made those eight new best friends. “I had a roommate I was close with at the beginning of the year. But I asked to change my roommate and moved in with Rob Ruiz. [I like] every single one of them. They’re the kids I hang out with probably 95 percent of the time. They really are my best friends here.”

It’s a good thing this freshman class has become so close; there is a lot riding on its shoulders. Although Schroeder certainly recognizes and understands that, he also is cognizant of the fact that no one of them can lead the turnaround. It will have to be a collective effort with contributions not only from this class, but from future classes and those already on the roster as well.

In other words, this is no one-man job.

“One person can’t turn around an entire program,” Schroeder said. “If we all do our jobs and do what we expect each other to do, it might not happen this year or next year, but we all know we have a job to do and if we do that we’ll turn it around. It’s not really a personal thing because it’s too much for one person to turn it around.”

Although Schroeder didn’t see much time on the mat as a freshman, he has taken a lot away from this year. Just by observing and by listening to his fellow wrestlers and the coaching staff, Schroeder has picked up on different tips and techniques that will help him get his sophomore campaign off on the right track.

“I didn’t have a good record, but I learned a lot,” Schroeder said of this year’s performance. “It set me up for a great next three years. I learned a lot about wrestling. The fact that I didn’t have a great year will lead to three more good years. Sometimes you have to take a step back to go forward.”

Off the mat, Schroeder has pursued business and economics as potential majors. With Columbia law school as the ultimate goal, Schroeder claims his academic inspiration comes from his family.

“I have a couple relatives who are partners in two law firms, so it’s something I’ve always been interested in,” Schroeder said. “I’ve taken a couple classes and it hasn’t turned me off; in fact, it’s made me more interested. That’s just what I’ve wanted to do for awhile.”

Going forward, F&M’s coaching staff believes Schroeder will be a crucial cog in the future development of the program. Schroeder doesn’t believe it’s one person’s job to reconstruct the F&M wrestling program; but that’s OK. This year’s freshman class has proven to be a strong one and next year’s incoming class should only contribute to the revitalization of the program.

However, it’s clear that Schroeder will have every chance to leave his mark. He may not have seen much time this season, but there’s a lot to look forward to in the very near future.

Durso, Dips Excited by Nationals Trip

As he first set foot in Mayser Gymnasium, Richard Durso ’15 had a funny feeling he would end up where he did. Over spring break, Durso was the sole Diplomat to represent F&M at nationals in St. Louis. Although he didn’t place, Durso believes his time at nationals amounted to the best wrestling experience he has had in his 14 years.

“[Nationals] was the best experience I’ve had by far,” Durso said. “It was nationally televised and it was all over the Internet and over 100,000 people attended over the course of the weekend.”

“My goal at the beginning of the year was to make it to nationals,” Durso added. “I didn’t win any matches, but it put everything in perspective so I can come back next year and earn a top eight spot hopefully.”

Durso, a 141-pounder, made his nationals debut against Ohio State’s Hunter Stieber, the fifth-seeded wrestler in the weight class. After falling to Stieber 4-2, Durso squared off against North Carolina’s Evan Henderson 5-1 in the consolation bracket.

Even though Durso didn’t come away with a victory, assistant coach Matt Greenberg feels Durso grew a lot as a wrestler just by watching the best wrestlers in the country. Most importantly, Greenberg believes their trip to nationals helped humanize the event, proving every wrestler there can be beat.

“Watching some of the later rounds, [Durso] was so into it,” Greenberg said. “It was disappointing to be there and not be wrestling in the later rounds. Nationals is this thing that you hear about, but until you get out there you don’t realize everyone there has two arms, two legs and can be beat. You can actually get out there, grab it, and make it happen. It’s not something that’s unrealistic.”

“[Nationals] made me really excited for next year and has made me really want to train hard [to get ready],” Durso said. “I realized I can place and I’m not just wrestling to hang in there and I can become an All-American.”

For Greenberg, Durso’s winless appearance at nationals didn’t damper the experience. To him, it was still important and it was still a worthwhile experience.

“I think overall it was a positive experience, even though we would have liked him to get a couple wins,” Greenberg said. “I think that he got a chance to wrestle against the best wresters in the country. We came away with a guy who believes he should All-American.

To become an All-American, Durso recognizes he needs to get better in several areas. Both he and Greenberg have narrowed down areas to focus on and are excited to get to work now that they have an entire offseason to work together. Perhaps most importantly, Durso and the coaching staff want to make sure he gets his weight up so he can compete on a level field in the 141-pound weight class.

“He needs to get bigger,” Greenberg said. “He came in and he was legitimately a 133-pounder. He needs to become a legitimate 141-pounder. We want him to be scoring a lot more points on top. The way he ended his season, he’ll start at the same point. Inheriting the role as team leader will help keep him going.”

That leadership role will be important moving forward. Both Durso and Greenberg believe his unique experience at nationals, one that no other member of the team has had, puts him in a strong position to lead. Going forward, the team will be expecting Durso to fill some of the leadership void that will be left when Matt Fullowan ’12, Colin Ely ’12, Matt Latessa ’12, and David Pucci ’12 graduate in May.

“As far as [head coach Mike Rogers] and myself are concerned, we believe he should be an All-American,” Greenberg said. “We explained to him that we expect him to be a leader; he’s not a freshman anymore. He’s going to have to step up and be the rock of our program. With Rick, he wants it, he needs it, and he’s going to do it. He was not happy [losing].”

“I’m still the young one on the team,” Durso said. “But yeah, I can definitely step into a leadership role and show the guys a couple things that helped me get to nationals.”

Having a representative in St. Louis to compete in nationals was a nice exclamation point for the team. After starting a little slow with some disappointing performances, the Dips finished strong, placing four at the EIWA conference championships and winning the Rupp Cup by dominating Millersville University for the second straight season.

“We had four guys place at Easterns,” Greenberg said. “I’m not sure that’s happened before.”

For Greenberg, the last part of the season has been bitter sweet: despite the success, the end of the season has meant seeing the program’s four seniors wrestle in their final matches. There’s a lot to look forward to, however, as these seniors have lain the groundwork for what should be a bright future for F&M wrestling. Combined with a recruiting class that should turn some heads, that future may be closer than many think.

“I think all of our seniors have made us proud,” Greenberg said. “We have a lot of guys in that locker room who are exciting. I think everyone is ready to go [next year]. We have one of the best recruiting classes in the program’s history. It’s an exciting time.”

Durso’s success this season has helped generate a newfound interest in the wrestling program this season. It will be wrestlers like Durso who continue to strengthen and grow the program.

It’s been awhile since the team felt like it was an important member of the campus community, and even though the season didn’t necessarily go exactly as planned, Greenberg believes the team made huge strides in generating interest amongst the students, faculty, and alumni.

“We want to send a huge thank you out to the students,” Greenberg said. “It’s been awhile since we filled [Mayser] on a nightly basis. Our more exciting matches and our raffles at every match really boosted interest. It was the first time in awhile that we really felt like we belonged. We’re really excited to be doing it again next year.”

Beyond the Mat - Brad Bailey

All it took was a little encouragement. Although he originally believed his athletic calling to be baseball, Brad Bailey’s father, once a wrestler at Columbia, gave his son a stern nudge towards the direction of wrestling at a young age.

“When I was younger, I didn’t really have a choice,” Bailey said, chuckling. “My dad wrestled for Columbia and he made me do it when I was younger. I didn’t really like it at first, I always saw myself as more of a baseball player when I was young. However, in middle school and high school I started to like it a little bit more; I started to like the challenge. I just don’t think I was ready for it at first. It just kinda grew from there.”

For Bailey, he never felt like he had to wrestle. Rather, because of the wrestling heritage that exists within his family, he believed not to wrestle would lead to disappointment.

“There was a little bit of pressure and [my dad] expected a lot of me,” Bailey said. “I guess he never made me do it, but it was highly important that I [wrestled]. I could’ve quit if I wanted, but he would have been very disappointed.”

As he has grown as a wrestler, Bailey has come to enjoy having a father who strongly encouraged him to become one. Now that Bailey has grown into the sport and come to love it, he is reaping the benefits of having someone so close to him who knows everything there is to know about the sport.

“It’s great to be in a house with someone who has been through [everything]. Just drawing on his experiences, knowing that he’s been there…is pretty cool,” he said.

Like every other wrestler, Bailey has days where he struggles to make it through on the mat. It would probably be easy to quit. Thankfully, Bailey has his father, who is ready to pass along the knowledge he gained as a wrestler at Columbia to his son.

Despite the immense importance this advice and wisdom has played in Bailey’s wrestling career, he doesn’t recall one or two pieces sticking out more than the rest. Instead, Bailey relishes in the fact that his father will always be a phone call away, ready to reassure him when times are tough. In many ways, Bailey is happy that he almost always knows ahead of time what his dad will say to him when he picks up the phone.

For Bailey, having someone to rely on who is removed the immediate situation has paid huge dividends.

“Just stick with it,” Bailey said when asked what his dad usually tells him. “It’s always stuff I know and I can predict what he’s going to say. It’s always good to get the perspective of someone who is outside the situation a little bit. I think he provides a bigger picture.”

Perhaps as a result of all these conversations, Bailey is confident that, despite his father’s previous allegiances to Columbia, an EIWA rival, he has managed to convert his father to a Diplomat.

“He’s an F&M fan now, I’d have to say,” Bailey said with a smile.

Beyond what his father has taught him, Bailey has garnered a lifetime worth of lessons and knowledge from the sport he now loves. Like every other wrestler at F&M, Bailey has taken the lessons the sport has taught him and applied them to the real world.

“Responsibility,” Bailey said when asked for a specific example. “You have to hold yourself accountable because your opponent is always going to hold you accountable. Hard work. If you work as hard as you do in the wrestling room in real life, grades, or social situations, you’ll be fine. The real world can’t be as hard as wrestling. It can’t be.”

alma mater of current F&M head coach Mike Rogers, made the connection that would eventually put Bailey on a course to become a Diplomat.

“I ended up here because my dad is the trainer for the Lock Haven wrestling team,” Bailey said. “When F&M brought Fullowan down to the tournament there last year, my dad knew [coach Rogers] just from operating on him or something, and he said, ‘Brad is looking for someplace to wrestle.’ I had never heard of F&M before that. Everything else just seemed to fall into place.”

Despite his lack of knowledge of F&M, Bailey liked what he heard when he spoke with both Rogers and assistant coach Matt Greenberg. Their message stuck with him, and he believes wrestling at F&M provides him, in conjunction with his fellow first-years, a tremendous opportunity to not only grow individually and as a class, but to help grow the program as well.

“I thought it would be a good opportunity to come in and do something for the program,” Bailey said. “It was an opportunity for myself to grow along with the program because obviously no one is as good as they need to be when they first get here. I though it was an opportunity to grow with the team.”

“We actually talk about it a lot [outside the wrestling room],” Bailey said of the program’s future. “It will be cool when we’re seniors, and I mean no disrespect to the current seniors, juniors, and sophomores, but knowing we’re such a big class and we can get so much better, we talk about when we’re seniors how we’re going to kick butt.”

Off the mat, Bailey is following another one of his father’s life paths: medicine.

“I’m a premed focus,” Bailey said. “I’m glad they didn’t let me pick my major right away because I would have picked physics. Now I think I may want to switch to chemistry. It’s always good to get the first few courses out of the way to find what you’re interested.”

“Definitely,” Bailey added when asked whether or not his father’s involvement in medicine influenced him. “Since I was little, my dad has always been a doctor and him doing surgery has always intrigued me. Some people get queasy; I don’t.”

His reasons for pursuing medicine are

“The fact that…it’s really just helping people. It’s not even saving people, but just giving people a better life,” Bailey said. “You know, fixing knees so they can run and stuff like that. As an athlete, that’s important to me because I don’t what I would do if I couldn’t compete. Just helping people participate in athletics or when they get older helping them stay in shape.”

When he’s not on the mat or hitting the books, Bailey leads a relatively relaxed lifestyle. Ever since winter break when the wrestling team was on campus largely by itself, he has noticed the first-year class becoming closer all the time.

“After winter break, [the first-years] became really tight and we hang out a lot now,” Bailey said. “We play video games, go see movies, and just hang out. We play a lot of Madden.”

Whether it’s as a team doctor or a coach somewhere, Bailey has aspirations to remain involved with wrestling for a long time after he graduates. He seems unsure of what form his involvement will take, but he hopes it will be significant.

“I would love to coach a local high school team,” he said. “I would definitely love to get involved, maybe through medicine. Not sure what path I want to take in medicine, but we’ll see.”

It took him awhile, but Bailey finally came around to wrestling. Perhaps it took a little nudge from his father to finally dive right in, but at the end of the day, Bailey couldn’t be happier that he did.

Beyond the Mat - Paul Alessandrini

Most people remember a specific moment or a long lasting influence that steered them towards the sport they chose to play. Whether that is a passion or spontaneous moment of inspiration, this moment usually prompts a moment that lingers in the back of one’s mind for the rest of his or her life.

For Paul Alessandrini, wrestling just seemed like the best sport for him, and he was introduced to the sport at just the right time.

“When I was like five year old, I played football and my dad was my coach,” Alessandrini said. “When I stopped playing, I never liked basketball, so I picked wrestling, and here I am.”

“When I was a child, I always had too much energy and I enjoyed being really physical. So I made that into a sport and wrestling was what came out of it,” he added.

To Alessandrini, wrestling just seemed to be the natural choice. It appealed to his slightly reckless, high-energy personality. Whatever sport he chose had to contain some element of aggression as an outlet for his always running motor.

Alessandrini’s father also played a critical role in his athletic development, coaching him in multiple sports for years.

“My dad was always my coach from football to little kid wrestling,” Alessandrini said. “He was always a big influence and always pushed me through it. He never forced me to do anything, but he always kept me going.”

“He was always a great coach and was always a great dad. He was always there for me.”

Even though Alessandrini experienced some early success as a wrestler and his dad encouraged him every step of the way, he never thought he would be a division one wrestler one day. That isn’t to say Alessandrini never dreamed about it, however; as he noted, thinking and hoping are two unique emotions.

“Thinking I was going to be one and dreaming I would be one are two different things,” he said. “I always wanted to be one…I used to watch the counties and the states on TV and always dreamed of being there.”

If it was unlikely that he would wrestle at the college level, it was even more unlikely that Alessandrini would end up at F&M. Prior to one of his club wrestling coaches reaching out to head coach Mike Rogers and assistant coach Matt Greenberg, Alessandrini had never heard of Franklin & Marshall.

“My club coach…I wrestled for him for two seasons…he was there for me,” Alessandrini said. “During the recruiting process, he contacted F&M. He contacted a lot of schools. I finally got a chance to talk to Coach Greenberg going into my senior year and we just clicked.”

“Initially I had never heard of F&M,” he added. “As soon as I talked to Greenberg, I started doing my research and yeah, they didn’t look that great, but I started talking to coaches and Rogers and they convinced me that this was going to be the start of something new and something good.”

After being contacted by F&M’s coaching staff, Alessandrini did his research and was a bit skeptical after seeing the records the program had assembled the previous few years. Like many of this year’s freshmen, however, Alessandrini was sold on the message both Rogers and Greenberg pitched when he spoke with them: This was his chance to make a true, lasting impact on the program, unlike any other mark he could leave on any other program.

“I think it was just the message that this might be a struggling division one program, but we’re really putting our best foot forward to make this a better program,” Alessandrini said. “Their whole message about making this a legitimate program is what really drew me in.”

AlessandriniAlessandrini considers each member of the class to be entirely unique, with wrestling as the string that connects them and holds everyone together.

“We’re all a bunch of individuals,” he said. “If you put us all in a room and took wrestling away, we would have nothing in common. But we do have one thing in common and that is that we want to make this wrestling program relevant again. I think this is going to be a really good team someday.”

Despite his optimism, Alessandrini’s collegiate wrestling career did not kick off with a bang. After tearing his labrum, he has struggled to get back on the mat, missing a large majority of the season. He claims this weighed on him more mentally than physically, as he always had to keep his shoulder in mind.

“I definitely didn’t think this was my best season. I tore my labrum last season and I am finally getting it fixed on March 9,” Alessandrini said. “I’m just looking forward to next season.”

“It was less not being able to wrestle and more not being able to wrestle to my potential,” he added. “Mentally, being outmatched during some matches really didn’t help when I was thinking, ‘don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t put your shoulder in this position.’ It was a drain on the season.”

Off the mat, Alessandrini remains a sports junkie. He claims, despite his history with football, he would be a lacrosse player if wrestling wasn’t his calling, and he enjoys watching all types of sports with his father and his friends whenever he has the opportunity.

“Wrestling takes up quite a bit of time. In general, when I say I wrestle all year round, I really mean it,” Alessandrini said when asked how he occupied his free time. “Other than wrestling, I enjoy watching sports, playing other sports, and I live on the water and enjoy that an the outdoors.”

“I’m a little short to play football in college,” he added. “But I’ve always loved lacrosse. If there wasn’t wrestling, I would probably be playing lacrosse.”

Even though the freshman has several years to sort out his goals and aspirations, Alessandrini aims to follow in the footsteps of his father after graduation, which would not surprise anyone who knows him.

“My Dad, my grandfather, and my uncle, they all work on Wall St,” Alessandrini said. “It’s kind of leading me to finance. I’ve always wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps in everything he does. He’s always been a huge influence on me, whether it’s been athletically or in the professional world.”

Itching to get back on the mat, Alessandrini has few goals for his collegiate career: Graduate with a good reputation, have good friends, and become an All-American wrestler. Perhaps little different than what most of his colleagues aim to accomplish during their time in college, but Alessandrini was adamant that, above all else, leaving his mark on the wrestling mat was what mattered to him the most.

There was little hesitation in his voice, and his eyes confirmed the seriousness with which he simply, abruptly, and passionately laid out his short list of collegiate goals.

“I definitely want them to remember me as a division one All-American,” he said. “I don’t care if that sounds bad, but that’s what I want most. I want to be an All-American. I want to graduate with a good group of friends both in and outside of the wrestling team.”

He sat back and smiled; it is clear Alessandrini is rather simple and, above all else, he is committed to the team and his teammates. Few things, if any, will get in his way as strives to achieve his ultimate goal.

Alessandrini, All-American.

“That would be a good enough name for me.”

Beyond the Mat - Colin Lahiff

Sophomore Colin Lahiff wasn’t always a wrestler. For most of his early years, he practiced judo, a form of martial arts. It wasn’t until his older brother picked up wrestling in high school that Lahiff began to contemplate picking up the sport he now loves.

“I had done a lot of judo, which is a lot like wrestling with a lot of throws and a lot of use of the hips,” Lahiff said. “I had done that for years. My brother, who is a couple years older than me, started wrestling in high school and I thought that was pretty cool, so I picked it up in seventh grade and I have been wrestling ever since.”

Fortunately for Lahiff, Alexander Konovalchik was his high school coach. A graduate of Harvard and a captain of its wrestling team, Konovalchik instilled a passion for wrestling in Lahiff. As a professor, Konovalchik impacted Lahiff’s path off the mat as well, jumpstarting Lahiff’s passion for both history and government.

“In high school I had a pretty good program,” Lahiff said. “Our coach, he was a captain at Harvard. He was also my football coach and government teacher. He had an amazing influence on me and is still a huge role model for me today.”

Despite his newfound love of wrestling, Lahiff didn’t initially think he would become a division one wrestler, at least not at F&M. In fact, prior to receiving a letter from F&M encouraging him to submit his information to then head coach Peter Schuyler, Lahiff had never even heard of the tiny school in Lancaster, PA.

Even though he had never heard of F&M before, he opted to give the place a shot.

“The first thing I learned about F&M was that there was a wrestling program from the letter I got in the mail recruiting me,” Lahiff said. “That was actually under Coach Schuyler. I then got an email over the summer saying that they were changing coaches. I came here and didn’t even know who the coach was going to be, which was a little unsettling. As soon as they brought in Rogers, I think they all knew it was going to be great.”

As to be expected, the Schuyler’s departure was shocking to those incoming wrestlers expecting to compete for him, Lahiff being no exception. For Lahiff, despite some initial concern, Rogers quickly eased any worries he had with his intensity and “mission.” This determination made clear the new path the program was on, something that encouraged Lahiff early on.

“I was definitely a little worried about it at first. Right away, the first week of practice, you could tell by tempo and the energy that we were now on a mission.”

“I had an idea that we were, I guess you could say in a slump and had had a few rough seasons. But I got the feeling the program was on the upswing,” he added.

Both Rogers and assistant coach Matt Greenberg have challenged and supported Lahiff over the course of his collegiate wrestling career. While Rogers has consistently challenged Lahiff on the mat, oftentimes personally wrestling Lahiff in practice, Greenberg has acted more as the calming influence on the sideline. Particularly in tournaments, Greenberg has somehow always known what to say.

“I would say, obviously Rogers, he’s the main guy in the room and he sets the tone,” Lahiff

“Greenberg always seems to connect with me well,” he added. “He always gives me a good advice. He somehow always knows what I’m feeling and what I need to get going.”

Unfortunately, Lahiff’s sophomore season did not go as planned. Following the team’s first meet against the University of Maryland, Lahiff tweaked his knee. After some initial attempts to make it back to the mat this season, it was eventually determined that Lahiff would be better off sitting and preparing himself to make a strong comeback in his junior season.

Although the injury disappointed Lahiff greatly, he has embraced his role this year, recognizing that his greatest contributions to the team have yet to come and will only be realized if he fully rehabs.

“I got injured the first weekend. Maybe I tweaked it before that weekend,” Lahiff said. “I hurt it against the University of Maryland and I knew I had done something pretty bad. I was debating about what to do, but it was getting worse and worse and so we got surgery just so I could get going for next season. I’m doing a lot of rehab right now and I’m trying to do stuff now that will put me in the best position to succeed next season.”

Lahiff’s determination and poise are just a couple factors that make him important to the future growth and development of the F&M wrestling program. Despite the recent lows the program has endured, Lahiff has noticed the program is on the upswing. He credits much of the recent improvement to the strong first-year class Rogers brought in this season.

“As soon as we started having a little more success last year, it started attracting a little more interest,” Lahiff said. “These freshmen, I see them going through the same things I went through as a freshman. It was clear that they came here ready to go and they’re making an impact.”

Off the mat, Lahiff is a relatively quiet kid. You won’t find him partying all over campus or on the member lists of multiple clubs, but you will likely find him buried in a textbook or in his notes in the library. He unashamedly claims to love learning and he hopes to one day turn his love and passion for history and government into a long-term career.

“Other that wrestling, which is one of my passions, I love learning,” Lahiff said. “I’m a little bit of a nerd in some ways. Some people say I go to the library too much, but I love learning, particularly government and history.”

“I’m going to pursue a career in one of those fields, or just stay in academia and keep studying after college,” he added.

Lahiff contributes most of his desire to Konovalchik, who taught him in multiple history and government classes while he was at high school in Massachusetts.

“My interest in government started in high school with my government professor,” Lahiff said. “I just loved every bit of the stuff he was teaching.”

Not surprisingly to anyone who knows him, Lahiff’s goals are rather simple: he wants to be a nice guy and he wants to leave F&M as a role model. Lahiff is a relatively quiet, respectful, and unassuming individual, so to hear him say he simply wants to have a positive impact on the community as a whole should come as no surprise to anyone.

“My main goal is just to be a kind person, always kind to everyone,” Lahiff said. “One of my own goals is to be a great leader. Not just with wrestling, but in the dorm as well. I want to be a positive figure for those around me, someone people can go to. I just want to be a positive influence on people.”

As the team prepares for the EIWAs this weekend, Lahiff is a bit sentimental as he recognizes that his time with seniors Colin Ely, Matt Fullowan, Matt Latessa, and David Pucci is coming to a close. He credits this senior class for preparing him for his life as a wrestler and recognizes he would not be where he is today without their contributions.

“I particularly want to thank these four seniors who are graduating. I have been able to wrestle with all of them a fair amount,” Lahiff said. “When I go injured, that was one of the things that made me the most upset, I wouldn’t be able to wrestle with these guys ever again. They’re great leaders and they’ve given me a lot of tools to work with over the next two years.”

Lahiff didn’t wrestle much this season, however is impact on the team was felt nonetheless behind the scenes. With two more years left before he graduates, it’s fair to expect big things from Lahiff, both on and off the mat.

Building a Bridge to the Future

On senior day, the laundry list of goals is pretty short. The first is to appropriately recognize the seniors on the team for the accomplishments they accumulated during their time as a member of the squad.

The second is to pummel the opposition.

For those in attendance at F&M’s final dual match of the 2011-2012 season last Friday, they saw both goals accomplished. With the Rupp Cup on the line, F&M’s four seniors, Colin Ely, Matt Fullowan, Matt Latessa, and David Pucci, lead the Diplomats in what became a thorough beating of visiting Millersville.

“I felt like the team was finally clicking,” Ely said. “It took us awhile to get there. Like the coaches said, we had different people turning it on during different matches.”

“Everyone wants to beat Millersville,” Latessa added. “It’s a little different walking out onto that mat. They can’t hang with us conditioning wise. Even in my match, even though I lost, I think I would have worn him out if I didn’t have to take that injury timeout.”

The words of both Latessa and Ely ring true for those who witnessed the Diplomats triumph over Millersville for the second consecutive season. Few of Millersville’s wrestlers appeared to be on the same level as those of F&M, and it’s true that, had Latessa not sprained his ankle late in his match and been forced to take an injury timeout, he would have likely won in the end.

“It’s a motivator, when you’re out on the mat, to know you’re outworking kids and knowing it doesn’t come down to size or strength or speed, but it just comes down to effort,” Latessa added.

Wrestling Millersville is important for every Diplomat. However, for some, it is a little more personal.

“For me, it was a bit of a personal match,” Ely said. “I don’t know if anyone remembers, but we were up my freshman year and I was up in the last match and I ended up losing. I kinda lost the entire match for us my freshman year. Ever since, I just…I never wanted to lose to Millersville again.”

Knocking off Millersville and keeping the Rupp Cup at F&M for a second year is a special reward for a small group of seniors that has persevered through some of the most difficult times in the program’s history. The win vindicated the work these seniors have put in for the past four years.

“For most of us, we’ve been here year round for four years,” Fullowan said. “I’ve probably been home for a maximum of three days in a row. Wrestling has become a second family. It also gives you the work ethic to get through the ups and downs, it teaches you how to deal with what happens in the real world.”

Given the trend the program was on when these four seniors first joined the team, it’s a little surprising the team has done as well as it has.

“From where we started, we came in here with a class of nine, and there’s now four of us,” Pucci said. “When we came in, we were told we would be the foundation. Now a lot of that has been washed away. But first we got Greenberg and then we got Rogers, and that marked the split from the old to the new.”

Despite the tumultuous beginning, all four seniors now look back on the entire experience as one that has been incredibly rewarding and gratifying.

“I don’t want it to end,” Ely said. “We’re the only four people in the world who understand the change that has happened. This year, I had so much fun. It was awesome.”

“It’s not a chore to come to practice anymore,” Latessa added. “Even though we had the same amount of wins as last year, the level of competition this year compared to last year is so much better. The program is coming around, but people may be skeptical because of the wins and losses.”

Latessa is generally correct; simply looking at the win-loss record would indicate that F&M did not improve this season. Unfortunately, most people will stop looking after seeing that sole statistic. For those close to the program and for those who are intimately involved with it, the change and the improvement is far more obvious.

“If you look at the record, you don’t see the progress,” Ely said. “But if you look at anything else, any other barometer for success, it’s obvious. Just hang out with the team and it’s obvious. It was depressing three years ago. People were saying, ‘I hope it’s a short practice,’ or, ‘I can’t wait to get out of here.’”

“I don’t think it’s too bold of a claim to say that in five to ten years F&M will be, or at least be in the discussion, one of the best wrestling programs in the country, because of what the coaches have done,” Latessa added.

Although head coach Mike Rogers and assistant coach Matt Greenberg have done a lot for the program, Ely has focused on what he believes to be the most critical aspect of the coaching staff’s job: recruiting.

“[This year,] we have ten freshmen who are all legitimate recruits,” Ely said. “Yeah, that’s awesome to say, but if you look at what Rogers had to work with, coming from where our program was, how do you sell that to a kid who can probably get offers from other places? Just the fact that Rogers brought in ten guys makes me confident that he will take this program through the roof. I don’t know how they do it. I think recruiting is an underrated part of how this program is turning around.”

While their final dual meet as Diplomats has now come and gone, these four seniors still have a great deal to look forward to. In less than two weeks, the Dips will travel to the EIWA Championships with an opportunity to make it known just how much they have improved in just one year. It is also a chance to make it known that F&M is here to stay.

“Coach said it’s important to peak at the right time. This our last shot of the year and we don’t want to go out and get beat at conferences,” Fullowan said. “It’s our last shot to go out and show [the EIWA] what we have and really prove ourselves. I know that, with these guys here, we’re going to go out with a bang. We’re going to go out there and really put up a fight.”

It’s a sentimental moment for all four of them. While they recognize that their wrestling careers are officially coming to a close, all four acknowledge the EIWAs are a way to boost the profile and stature of Diplomat wrestling.

With all these thoughts combined, all four seniors look back on their experiences with fondness, even though not every moment was a high point.

“I guess, I’m just really proud to have been a part of this team,” Ely said. “Our class is the bridge from what it was to what it’s becoming. I’m proud of the fact that we’re turning it around. When I visit in the future, I’m going to be very proud to wear my [wrestling] gear.”

All four wrestlers were appreciative of the F&M student body for the visible boost in attendance this season. While in past years the Mayser Gym has been relatively quiet on wrestling nights, this year saw raucous crowds and pumped up students pack into Mayser to watch the Diplomats compete.

That and the coaches who allowed him to wrestle are what Fullowan is most thankful for.

“Thank you to the coaches for giving me the opportunity to go out there and wrestle,” Fullowan said. “And thank you to the fans for coming out and helping us win.”

“Thank you to all the fans who came out to the home matches,” Ely added. “Our attendance has been a lot better this year and that really helps.”

For Latessa, his wrestling experience boils down to his relationship and his bond with the other three seniors on the team. He recognizes that the four seniors who persevered are special and that nobody can take what they have accomplished away from them.

“It’s about the guys in this room right here,” Latessa said. “My father always told me it takes a special breed to wrestle. We’re in the company of a special breed and that’s something I’m going to have with me past graduation. We did this together and there were a lot of times it would have been easy to say screw this, but we didn’t and we stuck it out.”

Of the four, Pucci probably had the most tumultuous experience, thanks to the many injuries he has sustained over the course of his career. But even he looks back on his wrestling experience with pride and is excited about what is in store for the Diplomats.

“I’m just really appreciative of the opportunity I had,” Pucci said. “I appreciate it so much. I’m just looking forward in a few years to watching someone from F&M on ESPN wrestle for the national title.”

To that, Fullowan simply smiled.

“You mean this year,” he quickly chipped in.

All Pucci could do was grin.

“Yeah,” Pucci said. “This year.”