As the winter chill settles in, the Lehigh wrestling team is gearing up for a promising 2023-2024 season back on the mat.
The Mountain Hawks have a challenge ahead of them after their standout senior Josh Humphreys graduated last year. In his final season at Lehigh, Humphreys recorded a 21-1 record and a third place finish at the NCAA Championships.
In spite of losing Humphreys, junior Connor McGonagle said the team has been diligently training during the offseason and aims to compensate for his loss.
“I’ve been focusing on harder practices, more conditioning, preparation,” McGonagle said. “We’ve been mimicking matches, working on specific positions for each person that benefits them and overall I think just setting a good tempo in the room.”
McGonagle harnessed a 12-3 record last season and was ranked in the top five nationally for most of the spring semester.
Another athlete looking to secure a podium place after finishing fourth at the EIWA Championships last season is junior Malyke Hines. He had a 20-13 record last season and qualified for NCAA Championships for a third straight year.
Hines said he has been spending his offseason watching film and trying to become a student of the game. He said the environment the team has been training in has helped them connect and greatly improve.
The wrestling team also welcomed 11 new faces to the program for the upcoming season, including 10 first-years and one transfer.
Three of the first-years, Luke Stanich, Logan Wadle and Richie Grungo, won state titles in March, and transfer student sophomore Hunter Mayes was a two-time New Jersey state champion. He competed at Rider University for the 2022 season.
Along with roster changes, the wrestling team has also promoted a familiar face prior to the season.
Former volunteer coach Evan Henderson was promoted to assistant coach and said he is excited for the new responsibilities it entails including recruiting prospective athletes across the country.
Henderson said he is looking forward to seeing the team’s improvements from last season, since he hasn’t seem them compete since last March.
“I’m looking to see how hungry they are…and how they developed over the summer,” Henderson said.
Junior Luca Frinzi said he made adjustments to his preseason regimen in preparation for the season.
Frinzi went 9-9 last season, starting in eight duals and winning his first nine bouts of the season. For this season, along with working in the gym and on the mat, Frinzi said he began working with a nutritionist.
“In previous years, I felt like my eating habits, my diet and some of the things I was doing weren’t exactly the correct way, so I reached out to our nutritionist and have been having some really good conversations with her,” Frinzi said.
As the season approaches, anticipation mounts among the athletes and McGonagle said the team’s goal is to win a national championship.
“I feel like that’s kind of the mindset you have to have if you want to be an elite wrestler,” McGonagle said.
Hines said he hopes to find consistency that will lead him to the podium this year as an All-American.
The Mountain Hawks will open up their season with the Brown and White Intrasquad on Oct. 26 at the Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall.
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