|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Scanlan transfers prep success to NCAA wrestling title
Two-time state high school champion wrestler Dan Scanlan has won an NCAA national championship in the 184-pound class for Limestone College, a Division II school in South Carolina.The former Loudoun County Raider added the national championship trophy March 15 to a mantel that already displayed two state titles and various tournament victories, including the 2003 Lock Haven Open.
Scanlan, who was ranked among the top four in the nation at the 160-pound class during his high school sophomore season, has wrestling literally in his blood.
In their Leesburg household, Joe Scanlan, a wrestling instructor, is the block and Dan is definitely a chip off of it. The father and son may use different words but say the same things about their approach to the craft of wrestling.
“You see a lot of guys with a lot of strength, not much technique, or a lot of technique and no strength,” Dan said. “That's what I train for, to have both.”
Joe said, “I don't teach a cotton-candy version of the sport. If you out-train your opponent, you'll probably beat him.”
Dan nodded and said, “Outwork everybody.”
The younger Scanlan has outworked many in racking up match victories throughout his precocious wrestling life. As an eighth-grader, he was beating high school state title contenders.
As a junior, he said, he “beat pretty good” a wrestler who was a recruiting target of Limestone coach Ben Stehura, who quickly established contact with Scanlan, ultimately awarding him a rare full scholarship to wrestle for the small school.
"He's turned out to be a pretty good investment for me," Stehura said, adding that he is hoping for two more national titles from his sophomore.
Scanlan himself talks of the possibility of trying out for the Olympic team. International wrestling, he said, employs a style more conducive to his qualities.
"International freestyle is more like what I like -- you can do a lot more dangerous fun stuff," he said, smiling.
Not that Scanlan is a reckless grappler. Stehura noted that Scanlan's tendency toward unorthodox stances belies the fact that “he is always in the right position to score. He's able to score out of a lot of situations.”
Sustained strength and practiced technique are hallmarks of the Scanlans' philosophy of wrestling.
“I teach an understanding of the sport, give explanations as to why things go together,” said Joe, who privately trains a small coterie of serious wrestlers in his four-month program, including 2008 state champ Beau Martino from Battlefield High School and Loudoun County senior Tyler Stevens, who placed sixth at states.
Dan has benefited from other coaches not directly related to him. Don Pierro was Scanlan's travel squad coach in eighth grade, while the youngster was taking down established high school wrestlers.
Family friend Bob Valentine began training Scanlan beginning in his successful sophomore year, up through his preparations for college competition.
Ryan Wheaton, father of Potomac Falls' 2005 state champ Justin, “was one of the most supportive parents,” according to Scanlan. Wheaton drove Dan and Justin “thousands of miles” during their high school careers.
Millbrook coach Chris Haines, college teammate of Stehura, is “one of the best coaches I've ever seen in my life,” said Scanlan, who has known Haines for just two years. “He helped me realize the physical level that I needed to get myself to if I wanted to be a threat in the college world.”
He has absorbed his lessons well, and aspires to promulgate his energetic yet focused brand of training to another wave of young wrestlers.
“I like training people. I like to kill people with workouts,” he said with a smirk, sitting in his basement weight room, a large black Labrador lying dutifully at his feet.
Scanlan said he is interested in pursuing coaching and training as a career. He will become a certified cross-fit trainer in April.
“Cardiovascular stamina, strength and endurance,” he listed as elements of cross-fit training. “Those three, that's wrestling right there. And mainly, I want to teach wrestling.”
Stehura said, "He knows the sport, knows how to talk about the sport." He added that Scanlan takes just as much pride from teammates' victories as from his own. “He will be a great leader someday.”
Joe Scanlan said, “He's paid attention to details that I've taught him all his life.”
Dan said of his father, “He's always taught me the right thing to do. He's always led me in a positive path.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.