Lehigh has not been able to put its full squad out on the mat yet this season. But with multiple starters missing the early portion of the schedule, quite a few Mountain Hawks have been able to see action as Pat Santoro’s squad was very busy the first month of the season.

“I thought the first month of the season went really good — lots of guys having opportunities,” Santoro said. “We have a few weights that we are still trying to figure out, and that will probably be ongoing throughout the season.

“It was a typical November for us. Our guys are competing really hard, but we never have the goal to be March-ready in November. We need to clean some things up, but I’m seeing really good effort.”

By the time Lehigh rolls out the home mat Friday night, it will have been two weeks since most of the Mountain Hawks lineup has seen action outside the practice room. Lehigh has already competed in five duals, in addition to three tournaments, but the last time out for the starters was on Nov. 15 at the National Duals Invitational sponsored by Paycom. 

Lehigh went 1-2 in Tulsa with a win over Arizona State and losses to Nebraska and Illinois. Since then, the Mountain Hawks have been back in the lab in Bethlehem.

“We've increased a little bit the volume of our wrestling just to get a little mini base in going into the break,” Santoro said. “We focused on positional teaching with that time we had with them away from outside competition.”

Not only is Lehigh back in action this weekend, but it’s also a Pennsylvania wrestling fan’s dream weekend of duals.

First, Lehigh will host Pitt Friday night inside Grace Hall. Then two days later, the Mountain Hawks will bus over to Penn State for a clash in Rec Hall.

“Pitt has a really solid team coming in here; they will always wrestle hard up and down their lineup,” Santoro said. “We love wrestling Pitt because they always bring the fight. They have some really strong individuals, but they are also an unbelievable dual team.

“But being back in Grace Hall, it's been a long time, so our guys will look forward to that. It'll be a lot of fun. That place gets loud, and it looks like it's going to be a sellout.”

The series is tied 5-5 over the last 10 meetings, but Pitt comes in having won the last three.

Then Lehigh will battle Sunday at #1 Penn State.

“Obviously, Penn State is a great team,” Santoro said. “Anytime there is an opportunity to wrestle a high-level guy, you have to get excited for that challenge. So if you're having a problem getting up for that match, then you don't like wrestling very much.

“I think it should be another fun, loud environment over there with every single weight we are wrestling (being) a ranked wrestler.”

The weekend of top duals continues Lehigh’s incredible non-conference slate. While Santoro and his staff look forward to getting more starters back into action, everybody is looking forward to the PA-heavy slate this weekend.

“We are just going to try to get our guys ready for some key matchups, which everybody is looking forward to this weekend,” Santoro said. “There are a lot of opportunities for our guys this weekend to see a lot of good competition.”

One Returns, Two to Go

While Lehigh has been dealing with moving parts in the lineup the first month of the season, reinforcements appear to be on the way.

Heavyweight Nathan Taylor should be available for this weekend’s duals against Pitt and Penn State. He has been out of action for almost an entire year after suffering a season-ending injury in the first month of last season.

Going into this third year as a starter, Taylor started the preseason ranked #8 at heavyweight. His weekend of action could see a pair of ranked match-ups against #11 Dayton Pitzer of Pitt, followed by #9 Cole Mirasola of Penn State.

“Nate was pretty close to being ready (at National Duals), but we just wanted to wait to be sure,” Santoro said.

If Taylor returns this weekend, all eyes will next be awaiting the returns of Ryan Crookham at 133 pounds and Luke Stanich at 141 pounds, both of whom are ranked in the top five in their weight classes.

Neither is expected to see the mat this weekend, as Stanich is likely to return in mid-December, while the coaches expect Crookham to make his season debut in January.