Lehigh is not quite back to full strength with its expected lineup, but each week the Mountain Hawks add more pieces back to a squad that is expected to make some noise in a couple of months in Cleveland at the NCAA Championships.

The latest returnees to the lineup were All-Americans Ryan Crookham (133 pounds) and Luke Stanich (141 pounds). They both suited up for the first time this past weekend after taking the necessary time to recover from injuries in order to make the sprint to the postseason.

“It was great to get them back out there,” Lehigh coach Pat Santoro said. “It was funny because both teams (Cornell and American) drew and chose to start at 133 to hit them out of the gate. Both guys were awesome with great attitudes about jumping right back into the mix.”

Both scored ranked wins in their first matches of the year in the 20-17 victory over Cornell.

Crookham took out #22 Tyler Ferrara, 7-3, while Stanich stopped a red-hot #5 Vince Cornella, 7-3. The next day, Crookham secured another ranked win, 5-1 over #21 Max Leete, while Stanich recorded a 20-3 tech fall in just five minutes.

“They are still blowing some rust off,” Santoro said. “They both looked better on day two and I expect to see them continue to look better each week.

“They are such incredible guys and it is really good for our whole team to have them back in our lineup. We don’t see any limits on them the rest of the year.”

The stretch of tough duals continues this weekend, as Lehigh will host EIWA foe Navy on Saturday before heading over to Princeton on Sunday.

“More barn burners for us this weekend,” Santoro said. “We’re excited for a lot of key matchups. It’s fun to keep challenging our guys with this schedule we have built for them. I know we all love to compete, I love weekends with multiple duals.”

Heavyweight Taylor Also Back on the Mat

Before Crookham and Stanich made their return to the lineup, one other key member of the squad also came back from almost an entire year away due to injury, heavyweight Nathan Taylor.

Coming off winning the 2024 EIWA heavyweight title, Taylor sustained a major knee injury in just his fourth bout last year.

“I ended up tearing three ligaments in my knee — my PCL (posterior cruciate ligament), my LCL (lateral collateral ligament) and my PLC (posterolateral corner),” Taylor said. “It was really everything on the outside, back of my knee. I went to a specialist and had to undergo a cadaver (procedure) to repair everything.”

Taylor and the coaches knew it was a major injury to one of their top returners, expected to lead last year’s Lehigh squad.

“It was a bad injury,” Santoro said. “We knew it was going to be about a year off the mat for him. Nate just kind of deals with things as they come, he’s pretty tough in that way. He did everything you’re supposed to.”

This was something that never happened to Taylor during his career, suffering a major injury.

“It was one of the only injuries I've ever gone through,” said Taylor. “I was in a straight leg (brace) for about eight weeks, couldn't even bend my leg. For the first three months, I was just trying to get some range of motion back, trying to get my muscles activated again.

“Getting off those crutches was a huge step for me mentally. I was able to start walking, then I got back to lifting. It was a process. We have a really good trainer here, Phil Littlejohn, and he helped me a lot.”

Taylor was cleared to return to action 11 months after the injury happened. There was a chance he could have stepped back onto the mat earlier this season, but Santoro and staff wanted to be patient and not rush him back.

“We almost used him a few weeks before he actually came back,” Santoro said. “We always want to make sure our guys are ready before we bring them back. Nate was ready a few weeks before his debut, but we pushed the timeline back and his first duals were against two studs.”

He came back into the lineup on December 5 in a home dual against Pitt. His first opponent was 2025 ACC champion #14 Dayton Pitzer. He took that bout 5-4. Two days later at Penn State, he lined up across #12 Cole Mirasola and scored a 7-2 win.

First two bouts back, two ranked wins.

“The nerves were crazy,” Taylor said. “It was a lot of pressure; it definitely got to me a bit out there. It was good to knock some rust off.”

Santoro was happy to have his closer back out on the mat, just as his fellow top-10  Mountain Hawks Crookham and Stanich were also getting ready to rejoin the line.

“He's starting to move a little bit better each week,” Santoro said. “I think in the next two or three weeks, you're going to see him moving better and better, just having confidence in it.

“He knows he can do it now, and I think that's really important.”

He has since climbed up to #7 in the national rankings, and his lone setback was to #1 Yonger Bastida of Iowa State.

“I think my biggest thing right now is just getting comfortable in wrestling positions,” Taylor said. “You can't replicate a match, you can try in practice, but I think it's hard to. So just getting matches in, wrestling those top guys, getting comfortable and trusting in my knee.

“And just having fun. I love wrestling, so I’m really just trying to enjoy it.”