Hernando Today
In Hokie Heaven
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Published: March 11, 2008
Whenever sports fans talk about the Atlantic Coast Conference, it generally focuses around talk of college basketball.
Seldom does the topic of collegiate wrestling come up. But that may be changing as two-time state wrestling champion Schuylar Swanton of Springstead recently signed a scholarship offer to attend Virginia Tech.
Swanton, who in his high school career went 125-9 with two state titles and a state-runner-up finish, had some help in earning his trip to ACC country.
Helping hand
According to Virginia Tech wrestling Head Coach Kevin Dresser, the Hokie coaching staff found out about Swanton from someone connected with the Brandon High School's wrestling program.
"I found out about Schuylar from one of the Brandon parents, Cesar Grajales. We've known him for some time and he knew what we were looking for and talked about it quite a bit before he recommended Schuylar to us."
Resser also said that the national experience Swanton has gotten over the years also helped him land a college scholarship.
"There are two things we look for," explained Dresser. "Number one is someone who really loves the sport because it's very hard at our level. Number two is they have to be able to work hard because no matter how good they are when they get here, they are going to struggle because it is a big step."
Swanton said that he made a trip up to Blacksburg, Va. in November and liked what he saw.
"When I went there on a recruiting trip," recalled Swanton, "I was pretty certain they were going to offer me something.
"It's a beautiful campus and the big thing that helped me make up my mind was that they were recruiting a lot of the top kids in the country and I think it's going to become a top program in the country."
Swanton repeats
This year, Swanton won the Class 2A state title at 112 pounds when he defeated Terry Dawson of Brandon 1-0 in the finals. That came after winning the state title in 2007 at 103 pounds.
As a sophomore, he fell in the state finals at 103 pounds.
For his mother Debbie, it will become the second son of hers to attend college on a wrestling scholarship.
Her son Dustin won a state title in 1997 and '98 for Springstead before attending Tennessee-Chattanooga.
But his career ended after one season when he had an ACL injury to his knee. "It's a good school and we love the coach," she said. "He's helped us a lot."
Swanton will only get a partial scholarship, but coach Dresser said in college wrestling, that is normal.
"We really can't give out full scholarships, so we give out half and thirds," Dresser said. "But we've got some loans and some financial aid packages that will help him."
The soon-to-be Hokie said that he never really considered any other school except VT.
"They were the first school that I talked too," said Swanton. "And I really didn't need to look at any others."
Some of the other schools that contacted Swanton were Army, Air Force, Navy, Duke and North Carolina.
He says that while he's not certain of what he will major in, he has some ideas.
"I don't know, maybe political science and I may go to pre-law after college," he said.
Coach Dresser also said his team is a young one this year.
"We're mostly made up of freshmen and juniors and we're really young," shared Dresser. "But from all the things I've heard about Schuylar, I think he'll work out here because he loves the sport and he's a hard worker."
"You never really know that about someone until they get here. But the ACC has gotten a whole lot better in the last three or four years."
By the Numbers: Schuylar Swanton
- Compiled by TONY CASTRO
YEAR W L PINS
2004-05 1 0 1
2005-06$$ 44 5 27
2006-07$ 44 2 27
2007-08$ 36 2 17
TOTALS 125 9 72
$$ – Denotes State Runner-up
$ - Denotes State Champion
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