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This letter is in response to Jeff Bartlett's letter last weekend on several NCAA wrestling subjects.
I do not disagree that the extra COVID year was not necessary, but in wrestling's case, it was probably due to the NCAA tournament not being held in 2020.
What I take offense to is Bartlett's other rants.
Regarding the Pennsylvania kids going to Iowa, we need to look how this came about.
There is no doubt that losing Spencer Lee was a major disappointment, but it wasn't because of a lack of effort by Cael Sanderson.
The fact that Lee's girlfriend was enrolled at Iowa, his father received a job at Coe College, and Lee's relationship with Young Guns and Jody Strittmatter probably all were deciding factors on a close decision to choose Iowa.
And I, for one, am happy with the way things worked out for him. He's a great young man.
As for Michael Kemerer, Kaleb Young and Max Murin, let's look at who would have been ahead of them at Penn State.
Bartlett might not be aware that there are only 9.9 scholarships available to Division I wrestling programs. The fact that there are 10 weight classes means a coach must be very selective in recruiting, and therefore most backups are probably walk-ons.
When Kemerer went to Iowa, he was a 149 or 157 pounder and PSU had Retherford at 149 and Nolf at 157. It's kind of hard to sit and wait on three-time national champions to graduate, all while getting no scholarship money. And when Kemerer went to 174 last year, PSU would have had Starocci. Enough said.
Young has always been at 157 for Iowa, would have been behind Nolf, has only finished fifth and seventh at nationals and is 12th ranked this year as of today. Why recruit him?
Let's mention another PA wrestler for Iowa, Austin DeSanto. When DeSanto transferred to Iowa, PSU had a recruit named Roman Bravo-Young. Who has done better, won a title, and didn't bring a ton of baggage with him?
Now we get to Bartlett's favorite PA wrestler, Max Murin.
Murin couldn't beat out DeSanto at 133 for Iowa, so he wrestled 141 and didn't place at nationals. So Iowa brings in Jaydin Eierman, and Murin has to go to 149 and finished 12th last year. He is ranked 10th this year as of today. Oh, and PSU had Nick Lee at 141.
I am truly happy that these wrestlers got the chance to wrestle for Tom Brands and for Iowa, the second best program in Division I for the past 10 years.
Finally, that brings me to Sanderson.
When Bartlett says Sanderson needs to get the exodus of PA kids under control, it sure sounds negative.
While PSU is probably still the best high school wrestling state, there is top-shelf talent everywhere, and since PSU has won eight of the last 10 competed national championships, and is a prohibitive favorite this year, I would say Sanderson's recruiting methods are infinitely greater than any other coach.
Let's look at where some of the Penn State wrestlers came from: Mark Hall (Minnesota), Bo Nickal (Texas), RBY (Arizona), Nick Lee (Indiana), Brady Berge (Minnesota), Aaron Brooks (Maryland), Alex Facundo (Michigan), Shayne Van Ness (New Jersey), Robert Howard (New Jersey), Beau Bartlett (Arizona) and transfers Drew Hildebrandt (Indiana), Max Dean (Michigan and Greg Kerkvliet (Minnesota).
I have enjoyed watching the non-PA wrestlers, am enjoying now and will be enjoying in the future.
Larry A. Hoffner
Martinsburg
Olympics deserved better venue
Beijing, China was the worst place in many decades for the 2022 Winter Olympics or any Winter Olympics.
It is an industrial city with nothing but buildings, hydrogen stacks, non-frozen rivers, and a barren mountain landscape for miles not covered with snow.
The artificial snow-covered venues are terrible. The downhill ski slopes were ice covered and not fit to ski on.
Only two countries wanted the 2022 Winter Olympics, China and the Ukraine. Four other countries pulled out as it was too expensive for them. China also held the Summer Olympics not long ago. Anything to please an authoritarian country with multi human rights violations. These moves were definitely political.
For The United States of America, this has not been a good start in winning medals with only six medals and no gold medals so far.
In short, this entire Winter Olympics was a shame and a huge embarrassment for the entire world and the International Olympics Committee.
Let's leave politics out of any future Winter or Summer Olympics in the future.
Les Hart
Duncansville