Haas, Lions anxious to return

By Guy Cipriano

- gciprian@centredaily.com

The Penn State wrestling team will end a 26-day dual meet break when it meets Cornell on Friday at Rec Hall.

New challenger on the horizon

The break appears short compared to the one senior Tim Haas has endured.

Haas is expected to return to the Nittany Lions’ starting lineup as its 133-pounder, a role he has not possessed in 54 days. Knee injuries sustained during the Nov. 11 opener against Maryland prevented Haas from participating in victories over Hofstra, Lehigh and Oklahoma State. Haas tested the knee during last week’s Wilkes Open where he wrestled three times in the non-team scoring event.

“I’m really excited,” said Haas, who will wrestle seventh-ranked Mike Grey on Friday. “Any time you get to wrestle it’s pretty exciting.”

For Haas, opportunities to wrestle are often scarce.

Injuries have limited the PIAA Class AAA champion from Cedar Cliff to just 34 bouts in four years. His college career includes a sprained ankle as a freshman, torn right anterior cruciate ligament as a redshirt freshman, sprained medial collateral ligament as a sophomore and torn left ACL as a junior.

With that history always stored in his mind, Haas encountered some uneasy moments during his 2007-08 debut. Haas took an injury timeout with less than a minute remaining in regulation during his season-opening bout against Steve Bell.

Haas eventually lost when Bell recorded a reversal during the final second of an overtime tiebreaker period. Haas limped off the mat. He limped even more the following day before discovering he sprained his lateral collateral ligament and tore his posterior cruciate ligament.

“During the match, I just tried not to think about it,” he said. “Afterwards, with the knee it hurts that day, and the next day is when you can really feel it. That’s when it stiffens up. The next day I was limping pretty bad.”

Haas placed a positive spin on the ordeal.

“It could be a good thing, too, since my body wasn’t taking a beating,” Haas said. “I basically took the first half of the year off.” Haas went 2-1 at Wilkes. As a precautionary measure, he forfeited out of the tournament after a 7-5 semifinal loss to Pitt-Johnstown’s Brandon Reasy.

“Wilkes was a test to see what Tim would do, get him some experience and kind of get rid of that rust he had recovering from previous injuries” coach Troy Sunderland said. “It’s good to have him wrestling again. We are hopeful that he will have a good performance and stay healthy.”

A healthy Haas could boost a lineup that didn’t suffer many losses during the first semester. Penn State (4-0) defeated its four opponents by a combined 116-32 margin. True freshmen Mike Eagen replaced Haas and went 1-2 as the starting 133-pounder. Penn State, which dropped to No. 4 in the NWCA/InterMat rankings released Wed-nesday, is the only Top 5 program that didn’t participate in a holiday tournament. The team returned to campus on Dec. 28 and the starters practiced as No. 1 Iowa and No. 2 Iowa State competed at the Midlands Championships and No. 3 Minnesota competed in the Southern Scuffle.

“I don’t think the break will hurt,” sophomore 174-pounder David Erwin said. “I think everyone is hungry to go and ready to go. I don’t really think it had a detrimental effect on anything.”

The break might have also settled some position battles.

A heavyweight wrestle-off between John Laboranti and Stefan Tighe was held during the break. Sunderland will not reveal the starter before Friday’s match.

Sunderland said junior All-American Jake Strayer will return to the lineup Friday at 141 pounds. Strayer didn’t compete against Oklahoma State, a move that allowed three-time PIAA Class AA champion Garrett Scott to make his dual meet debut.

The Nittany Lions will add two wrestlers for the second semester including Bellefonte graduate J.R. Brown, who qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championships last year. Brown went 34-6 at 189 pounds as a senior and helped the Red Raiders win the District 6 Class AAA Duals for the first time in their history.

Tyler Saltsman, the brother of former Penn State lacrosse captain Dan Saltsman, will also join the team.