All I can say is finally ! For those of you who loyally read all of these recruiting press releases, you know that in the past two years, I have written about just about every demographic possible; I’ve covered a Minnesota kid taking his act to Buffalo; I’ve highlighted back-to-back #1 recruits opting to become [...]

Like any sport, wrestling is a pyramid where only the very elite are able to successfully make the jump to the next level. For this reason, it is a major honor when a school, town, or for that matter a wrestling club is able to send even one student-athlete to the NCAA Division I level. [...]

After weeks of sitting back and watching as their neighbors stock-piled blue-chipper upon blue-chipper, New Jersey struck back hard on Tuesday night, landing one of the top unsigned talents in the Empire State when 2009 NYS DI runner-up, Steven Rodrigues of Fox Lane High School in Section I, announced on his facebook that he had [...]

A quote from one of my favorite movies of all-time, “Prefontaine,” stated that the protagonist’s drug was winning at everything. Apparently, this is a personal philosophy that Cornell University Head Coach, Rob Koll, also subscribes to. The owner/operator of the preseason #1 team in the nation, Koll continued his pursuit of the top-ranked [...]

The latin phrase “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae”, translated as “truth for Christ and the Church,” may not mean much to many of us, but today it takes on a much greater significance for one of our native sons, Wantagh High School senior Joe Barbato. As the motto of Harvard University, this is a slogan [...]

To say that the recruiting front has been kind to New York State DI institutions the past 48 hours would be a minor understatement. With Empire State fanatics still buzzing with excitement over the announcement that the #19 recruit in the land, Nick Gwiazdowski, would be staying home and attending Binghamton, today was a [...]

If you ask the best coaches in the country, a lot of them will tell you that the key to any successful DI wrestling program, is the ability to keep the instate talent home. In recent times, no body in the Empire State has been better at that than Binghamton Head Coach, Pat Popolizio. Today [...]

I like Cornell University Head Coach, Rob Koll; I really do. However, if he continues to make these recruiting press releases a daily ritual, than I am afraid I am going to have to end our friendship….While it goes without saying that the previous statement was obviously meant in good fun, the one thing that [...]

Just 10 days after getting verbal commitments from a pair of NYS DII Champions in the persons of the Scott twins, Cornell Head Coach, Rob Koll had cause to celebrate again when 2010 Michigan State Champion, Joe Rendina, the #65 ranked recruit in the land according to InterMat, announced live on Wrestlingaddix.com that the Big [...]

Earlier this morning, Tioga High School rising senior, Derak Heyman, a 2x NYS DII finalist and 2009 State Champion, was named as one of the top-10 members of NYS’ class of 2011 as a part of the InterMat Wrestling-49 series. This was only the start of the good news for this immensely talented young man [...]

Those of you who have followed my writings from local message board icon (kidding, of course) to freelance wrestling journalist know that I have always had a special place in my heart for the New York State Catholic League. It was the place of origin of my now well established affinity for the world’s [...]

If you are an avid reader of Lighthouse, it is likely that you recall that every other week it seemed that I was writing a press release announcing that another blue-chip recruit had committed to wrestle for coach Rob Koll and staff at Cornell University. In fact, so deep was the 2010 recruiting class [...]

Friday July 9th was a good night for Hofstra University Head Wrestling Coach, Tom Shifflet, as he learned that the Pride had just picked up their first recruit from the class of 2011 when 2010 NYS DI 171-pound State runner-up/2x Nassau County Champion Joe Kavanagh of Wantagh High School informed the fourth year coach of his decision to [...]

Early this afternoon, I learned from a person very close to the situation that 2010 152-pound New York State DI Champion, Giuseppi Lanzi, has selected the Bears of Brown University as his college choice. As gifted in the classroom as he is on the wrestling mat, Lanzi, with good reason, had his pick of top [...]

It was several months ago that a Cornell University insider informed me that they felt extremely confident that they would land the services of 2009 NHSCA Junior National Champion, Billy George…Yesterday, speculation became fact when the Long Branch High School senior verbally committed to wrestle for the Big Red and Head Coach, Rob Koll….The announcement [...]

It has been said that Lance Moore was a NYer before he was officially a NYer….A pupil of Scott Green at the famed Shamrock Wrestling Club, Moore has honed his skills by working out with some of the finest talent that the Empire State has to offer…And on Thursday, all of that hard work [...]

It is now being reported by InterMat that two-time defending Suffolk County Champion/2008 NYS Champion, Ken Collado has given a verbal commitment (can sign at any time) to the University of Maryland and their Head Coach, former Section XI legend, Kerry McCoy….The 2009 NYS placewinner (6th @ 112) is the latest member in what is already a very [...]

At first glance, it might have seemed like a foregone conclusion that Evan Knight, a senior at Urbandale High School in Iowa, would end up donning a cardinal and gold Iowa State singlet….After all, his father, Steve Knight, was an All-American for the Cyclones and spent three seasons on the Iowa State coaching staff. His [...]

Early this afternoon, journalists from The Open Mat broke the news that 2x defending NYS DI Champion, Nick Arujau, had contacted the coaching staff at Hofstra University to inform them that he would be retracting the verbal commitment that he gave to the Hempstead, NY based school back in May…LHW contacted the #46 recruit and was [...]

On Tuesday evening, it was confirmed that after weeks of speculation about which Ivy League institution would land his services, Blair Academy senior, Chris Villalonga, had given a verbal commitment to continue his academic and athletic career under the guidance of Big Red head Coach, Rob Koll…This decision came just weeks after Villalonga’s Bucs teammate, [...]

On Tuesday, another of the Empire State’s prized recruits from the class of 2010 came off of the market when it was announced that defending 215-pound DII State Champion, Kyle Colling, had given a verbal to University of Oklahoma Head Coach, Jack Spates. In doing so, the multi-sport athlete from Pioneer High School became the [...]

On Wednesday, InterMat broke the news that the #99 recruit in the land, Blair Academy’s Jesse Shanaman, had given a verbal commitment to Cornell University Head Coach, Rob Koll and his staff…In doing so, Shanaman become the second Bucs wrestler in the past week and a half to formally announce his collegiate plans. On October 4th, 2009 National Prep Champion, Max Huntley (who will wrestle on the Blair College team in 2010) revealed that he would continue his wrestling career at Missouri under the tutelage of Brian Smith….Remaining uncommitted from Jeff Buxton’s returning National Championship team are a pair of top-15 recruits in the persons of #3 Chris Villalonga (also rumored to be heavily considering Cornell) and #12 Mike Evans (a 2010 transfer who is believed to be down to a short list consisting of the University of Iowa and the aforementioned University of Missouri).

This past Tuesday, the fifth and final member of the InterMat Top-100 recruits list from New York, Angelo Malvestuto officially came off of the market when he announced that he would be continuing his academic and athletic career in Blacksburg, VA for Head Coach Kevin Dresser and the Virginia Tech Hokies…The news broke exactly one week after fellow Empire State top-100 recruit, Nick Wilcox (#70) revealed that he had decided to do his collegiate wrestling at Bloomsburg University…

Marshall Peppelman was in seventh grade when he first started attending Rob Koll’s Cornell wrestling camps in the summer with his teammates. His team attended the camp every summer and Peppelman’s relationship grew with Koll as did his admiration for the Cornell wrestling program. But it wasn’t until Peppelman started looking at colleges when he [...]

Early this morning, Lighthouse Wrestling learned that 2009 NYS DI Runner-up, Nick Terdick, of John Glenn High School had given a verbal commitment to the Hofstra University staff…The Knight senior, who capped off his third All-County performance last season as the runner-up at 140-pounds, becomes the fourth member of the class of 2010 (the third [...]

On Wednesday morning (September 9th), InterMat broke the story that that 2009 Suffolk County Champion, Billy Coggins, has elected to continue his academic and athletic career in Charlottesville as a member of the University of Virginia’s class of 2014. In making this decision, the 2009 NYS DI place-winner (5th @160 pounds) became the third member [...]