http://www.newsday.com/sports/highschool/longisland/ny-
sklucas164086314dec16,0,6007619.story?coll=ny-li-hsports-print
State champ Lucas decides on Hofstra
BY GREGG SARRA
STAFF WRITER
December 16, 2004
The decision, like his takedowns, came easily for Alton Lucas, the
area’s most highly recruited wrestler since four-time state champion
Jesse Jantzen.
Lucas, a state wrestling champion and All-Long Island football player
from West Babylon, has accepted a full scholarship to wrestle at
Hofstra. He also plans to play football. The 152-pound defending
Division I state champ chose No. 8 Hofstra over No. 4 Nebraska and a
host of other Division I programs.
“We didn’t let this one slip away from Long Island, “Hofstra coach Tom
Ryan said. “Lucas is an incredible athlete with great balance, skill,
flexibility, power and quickness.”
Lucas has won five national titles in the past two years. His talent
draws comparisons to Jantzen, a 2000 Shoreham-Wading River graduate who
became a three-time All-American at Harvard. Jantzen won the NCAA
Division I title at 149 pounds as a senior in March.
Lucas, 5-8, 180 pounds, had a 43-2 record as a junior, losing twice in
the Beast of the East tournament in Delaware, before winning the state
championship in Buffalo. He was a state runner-up as a sophomore. Lucas
currently is ranked second in the country at 160 pounds by the Intermat
and Amateur Wrestling News.
Lucas will have the opportunity to work out with two-time national
champion Donny Pritzlaff of Wisconsin in the Hofstra wrestling room.
Pritzlaff, a two-year Hofstra assistant coach, is training for the 2008
Olympics.
“Pritzlaff gives Alton a built-in workout partner during practice, ”
Ryan said. “There’s nothing better than that kind of on-the-mat
training.”
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