Virginia Tech wrestling has parlayed it's first Individual National Champion in wrestling in to continued recruiting success. They just added Hunter Catka, from Pennsylvania, who is poised to be the top heavyweight in the class of 2020.
From Sun Valley high school outside Philadelphia, Catka just rolled through FloNationals and the Akron Cadet Trials to make the US World Team headed to Sofia Bulgaria for the World Championships in August.
Catka joins fellow #2 and Pennsylvania Sammy Hillegas (141/149), along with #2-Eddie Ventresca (125/NJ) and #10-Sammy Fisher (184/VA), all of whom are also Top 100 in 2020.
This would make for strong back to back recruiting classes with the 2019 class being a consensus top 5 group.
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You think of heated rivalries - Duke vs UNC, Auburn vs Alabama, Miami vs Fl State; but they are all runners up to Chi Chester vs Sun Valley!
UNIT.
HE HAS A LOTTA BEEF
#2 ranked lightweight and heavyweight in the same class. I thought we were weak in those weights last year so it will be nice to go back to the Dance/Walz era of expecting a strong start and end to the dual.
These guys could definitely get to that level. In the mean time I'm really interested to see how the team does at 125 and Heavyweight next season. At 125 I wouldn't be surprised to see Prata seize the spot as long as he stays healthy. At 285 I'm excited to see what Borst can do. He's been in the program a couple years now and he has had some freestyle success so I'd love to see a breakout year.
Myers might try to cut to 125 but we'll see. Seems like it would be tough. I had high hopes for Borst but he may be even more of a tweener than Walz. It'll be interesting to see how he does after a season at heavyweight.
Myers to 125 is definitely intriguing if he can handle making that weight. I think being one of the smaller sizes guys at heavyweight can be a really big advantage if it translates in to more agility. Walz took a couple years to develop so I'm hoping Borst follows that same trajectory.
This is a pretty huge pull right? I'm assuming Philly is right in prime PSU and OSU recruiting area?
This is awesome! Very exciting. Wrestling with top 5 class. FB might want a recruiting seminar from wrestling.
Gotta win too
Hunter Catka won the super 32 championship today. Winning 8-2 in the finals against the number two heavyweight in the country 😃
I don't know if anyone heard the news about this Hokie wrestling commit. He goes to the high school I graduated from in NJ.
https://www.nj.com/highschoolsports/2020/02/paulsboro-state-wrestling-ch...
FWIW it's been announced that Green will not resume his wrestling career.
Thanks. I had not seen that yet although it is the outcome I expected.
How does that work with Tech honoring the scholarship? Since he isn't going to wrestle, I would think it would be just like any scholarship for any non-athlete student. However, we know the NCAA loves to do whatever they want and common sense doesn't really apply.
Probably the same as when someone has an athletic scholarship and retires medically. The university continues their scholarship (I think it's still funded by the Athletic Department), and it's not counted against the sport.
Sorry to hear about that kid. We need to get that boy a bunch of Chick-Fil-A coupons!
This is what I'd guess as well- some type of medical hardship waiver that allows him to be on scholarship funded by the athletic department but does not count against the allotted scholarships for the sport.
Hope it goes well!