Thank you!

Thanks so much to all of you readers out there for all of your support of the program and me. Unfortunately this is the end of the blog and my coaching career, as I will not be leading the Generals wrestling team next season. I am so, so proud of everything we've accomplished and the direction we've moved. I wish the best of luck to the returning and incoming wrestlers, who have been my family for the past four years. I will miss all of you tremendously and I am terribly sorry that I won't be able to finish what we started.

Sincerely,

Mike Bennett

3 Wrestlers earn Scholar-Athlete Awards

Senior Keith Jaworski and Juniors Sam Campbell and David Dennis all received W&L's scholar athlete awards for having over 3.5 GPA for the winter term. Congratulations to those three for their tremendous efforts in the classroom.

Coach Franke enters the Hall of Fame

Last weekend outgoing wrestling coach Gary Franke was honored by and inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. It was an outstanding night filled with great honorees and some great W&L Alumni. We are all so very proud of Coach for his hard work and efforts over the years and were proud to attend this great event. Here are some photos of "The HOF"

(Above) Coach Franke pictured with wife Linda, Executive Director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association Mike Moyer (left), and President of the VA chapter of the HOF Dick Besnier.

W&L Wrestling Alumni in attendance: (Left to right) W&L's only All-American, Rich Redfoot, the Honorable Manoli Loupassi, Gary "the HOF" Franke, Tim Valliere, Steve Castle, Jim Crytzer, and myself.

Thank you!

Thank you once again to the over 50 Alumni and friends of the program that donated to Coach Franke's retirement gift. Coach refered to his trip to Turnefee Flats, Belize, was a once in a lifetime opportunity that was "outstanding." Here are some photos of him with his son, Ryan, and some nice bonefish:

NCAA Tourney Recap

It was a great week in Philadelphia for the NCAA Division 1 tournament, and it was one heck of a close tournament. Cornell had a shot but lost 3 nail-biters in the the semifinals that locked it up for Penn State. Bonus points were huge for the Nittany Lions as they picked up numerous pins and majors to win.

I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked, especially with almost 15 W&L wrestling alumni attending the event. Good times were certainly had, and Coach Franke was the "Little General" out on the floor. You may have seen him on TV during the finals. I was sitting in the 5th row though and got some great shots. These two are of Anthony Robles after winning the national championship, and Cornell's Kyle Dake vs. Penn State's Molinaro moments before the final at 149.

Coach Franke working the awards during the finals. You know everything ran smoothly with Coach running the show!

Good Press

Some good press for the Generals!

D3 NCAA Tourney Brackets

Well the Centennial Conference had its best tournament ever I believe with 5 of 11 wrestlers gaining All-American Status. Leading the way was Dan Twito from the Merchant Marine Academy, who not only became a first-time All-American, but a National Champion as well! Two years in a row the USMMA has had one of those, and I'll remind Generals nation out there that David Dennis pinned him last year. Heavyweight Brock Glofelty, our one wild-card bid from the conference, finished 3rd while Renaut (USMMA), Bridge (Stevens), and Connell (USMMA) all placed.

Full brackets are here.

We hope to pick up a few more recruits during the regular decision period, but no news on that until the end of the month. I also expect there to be a new head coach named in the next month. Stay tuned!