The stage is set for Arcadia men’s and women’s wrestling as their inaugural seasons of competition get underway this November. Fifty talented student-athletes fill the rosters, a state-of-the-art facility is ready for action, and stiff competition is scheduled.

“ We’re confident in already saying that we have a very good program; we have really good wrestlers, the buy-in is huge,” David Stevens, head coach of the men’s team, said even before the first practice this fall.

“For us, the term that comes to mind is scrappy,” Michael Childs, head coach of the women’s team, said. “We’re looking to have academic weapons in the classroom, and hammers on the wrestling mat.”

The process began with recruiting the right student-athletes. While Stevens and Childs approached the endeavor differently, they had similar traits they were looking for.

“You’re always selling education first; that will always be a top priority for our program,” Childs said. “ There can be a balance between high-level athletics and high-level academics.  What happens if you break your leg and can never compete again? You want to be at a place that will sustain you and prepare you for your future, and  Arcadia has a wonderful reputation for that.”

Stevens agreed, mentioning that Arcadia makes selling academics first easy.

“The truth is, the school itself sells itself,” he said. “We’ve got top-ranked programs, we’re ranked highly in study abroad. So when it came time to talk about the school, I think it was the easiest part.”

The coaches were also looking for wrestling talent in order to make an immediate splash.

“ Pennsylvania is synonymous with wrestling,” Childs said. “Women’s wrestling was sanctioned for the first time at the high school level in Pennsylvania two years ago, with New Jersey and New York being even further ahead of that curve, so we’re in a great location for recruiting. This year, we have 15 women on the roster from four different states.”

“I started with a big funnel, reaching out to as many athletes as possible at different meets and tournaments,” Stevens explained. “We began narrowing it down from there, bringing them onto campus, learning about them, and explaining our vision for the program. A  really big part of recruiting was not just telling them what we want to accomplish, but how we’re going to accomplish it. Through this, we were able to pare down our numbers to the 35 athletes we have on our roster.” The goal for Stevens was to have 20 wrestlers on the roster the first year, adding five wrestlers each year for a total of 30 by the third year.

As they were traveling around the region to recruit, the coaches were also keeping a close eye on the renovations at 125 Royal Avenue. Approximately 20,000 square feet of space at the former site of Bishop McDevitt High School was transformed into cutting-edge facilities for Arcadia wrestling and training space for Arcadia golf.

 ”There are a lot of local Division I schools within our area that do not have a wrestling facility even remotely close to what we have,” Stevens said. “Sometimes wrestling is low on the totem pole, so it’s definitely a blessing for us.  It’s the little things that go such a long way.”

The facility features three full-size wrestling mats, allowing the teams to work through a variety of scenarios at the same time during practice. There is also a weight room–which will be utilized by all 28 Arcadia athletic programs–as well as numerous bikes, treadmills, and pull-up bars scattered throughout to help the athletes stay strong. An athletic training facility right down the hall gives the teams a sense of security, knowing athletes will be taken care of if something ever goes wrong.

“If you look, it’s Penn State, Lehigh, and Arcadia with the top facilities around,” Childs added. “It’s just  more affirmation that clearly the University has put a lot of thought and resources behind this to build successful programs for generations.”

The men’s team joins powerhouse programs like Alvernia University, Stevens Institute of Technology, and Delaware Valley University in the Middle Atlantic Conference. Coach Stevens welcomes the challenge from these programs, knowing that to be the best, you have to go up against the best.

“ We have a really tough conference, let alone a tough schedule,” he said. “ Alvernia finished top 10 in the country last year, had two national finalists, and one of them was a champion. Stevens regularly wins the conference and is nationally ranked.”

The women’s team faces different challenges during their regular season meets. Currently, women’s college wrestling is not broken down by division, meaning Division III Arcadia might go up against the likes of the DI University of Iowa and Lehigh University.

“Since this is the first year that the NCAA is sanctioning women’s wrestling, it’s a different landscape right now than the men,” Childs said. “We won’t see Iowa in a dual meet, but we will see them at some point later in the season. The next few years will be interesting to see how things shake out.”

Win or lose, the coaches believe they’ve laid the foundation for success now and in the future.

“ Wrestling is a wonderful sport,” Childs said. “It’s a really hard sport–it allows you to figure out things about yourself that you typically wouldn’t–but it’s wonderful. You get comfortable with being uncomfortable, and that’s a good recipe for life too.”