Sasso, Labriola off to strong starts
Lehigh (1-7) hoping to build momentum.
Lehigh (1-7) limps home with a crack of a smile after picking up its first dual-meet win of the season.
Attrition, however, continues to be the story for coach Pat Santore’s Mountain Hawks.
Bethlehem Catholic grad Luke Karam was one of two Lehigh wrestlers who injurydefaulted in the Dec. 30 match against North Carolina. The 141pounder tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the season.
Karam, who was an NCAA qualifier last season, is 6-4 this year.
Also, brothers and Pennridge grads Scott and Matt Parker have left the program.
Lehigh hosts EIWA foes Bucknell at 7 p.m. Friday and No. 7-ranked Cornell on Saturday at 2. It is the Mountain Hawks’ first appearances at Grace Hall since Nov. 30.
Lehigh also has a pair of home duals against ranked teams at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, against Arizona State and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 27, against Virginia Tech.
Seven of the Mountain Hawks’ first 10 duals are against nationally ranked foes.
Other locals in the Lehigh lineup: Northampton product Dan Moran is 7-5 at 141 pounds; Phillipsburg’s Brandon Paetzell is 5-6 at 125 and fellow Stateliner Brian Meyer is 6-5 at 157; Pennridge’s Kyle Gentile is 8-2 at 197 and Stroudsburg’s Jake Jakobsen is 5-3 at 197.
Gentile clinched Lehigh’s first win of the season by knocking off No. 7 Jay Aiello of Virginia 13-11 at South Beach Duals.
Bangor’s Charlie Sell has not seen action yet.
Lost weekend
Cole Karam, Luke’s twin brother, suffered a broken nose during the Citrus Invitational in Broward County, Fla. The freshman 157-pounder at NYU has not wrestled since finishing fifth there, which included a pair of two-point wins over Saucon Valley grad Angelo Mahaffey of Muhlenberg College.
Karam (16-4) previously was third at the Roger Williams Invitational and second at the NYS Championships.
Immediate splash
Two-time PIAA champion Mikey Labriola already has made a name for himself at the University of Nebraska.
The redshirt freshman is 14-2 at 174 pounds with seven bonuspoint wins. The Bethlehem Catholic graduate is ranked ninth nationally, with only juniors and seniors above him.
Labriola was 4-0 and won the Williamson/Warren Daktronics Open earlier this season, then was fourth at 3-1 at the Cliff Keen Invitational.
He was 18-2 last year wrestling unattached.
Waiting in the wings
Nazareth grad Sammy Sasso is having success as an unattached true freshman for Ohio State.
The two-time state champion is 13-2 this year, including a 7-1 mark and a third-place finish at 149 at the Midlands Open. His lone loss was 8-6 to Arizona State’s Jacori Teemer in his first bout.
Sasso bounced back to beat then-No. 13 Joshua Maruca of Arizona State, No. 8 Pat Lugo (Iowa) and two-time All-American Alec Pantaleo of Michigan, who is ranked sixth nationally at 157.
Roundup