COLLEGE WRESTLING: NEWARK VALLEY’S NORTHROP TAKING WRESTLING SKILLS TO UTICA (2024-05-28)

By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY — Seth Northrop hopes to become a contributor to the upstart Utica University wrestling program after high school graduation.

On Tuesday, he signed with the Pioneers, which recently completed their initial season of collegiate wrestling. Utica competes as a Division III program.

Eleven though he’s competed in other sports, the mats are where his heart is at.

“I've just been doing wrestling more and I love both sports, but I love wrestling a little more,” he said. He expects to compete at 197 pounds.

“It was a brand new program last year, so I think that any addition to the team would be a positive one,” Northrop said. “I don't think I'm too bad at wrestling either, so that's a good thing.”

The wrestling coach was among those who impressed him.

“I visited their campus and I met with a couple of teachers and the wrestling coach up there, and they all seemed really nice and the campus just felt more right than all the other campuses I visited.”

Northrop plans to study Exercise and Wellness at Utica.

“I've had some positive influences in my life from people in that field, like our athletic trainer, and our strength and conditioning coach,” he said. “I want to be someone that helps people like that.”

Early in Northrop’s wrestling career, Cardinals wrestling coach Eric D’Arcy wasn’t sure Northrop would be a college athlete, but he noted that Northrop used “perseverance and a lot of hard work” to improve on the mats.

“I'll tell you, watching Seth this year, he really turned a lot of corners as the season went along. He's one of those guys who was willing to take on bigger and bigger challenges every time they were presented to him. And, you know, for a kid who two years ago was really struggling just to get a takedown in a match to where his senior year he was an overtime away from being probably top four of the section. That really speaks volumes to how far he has come.”

NV football coach Ted Hartenstein was unavailable for the signing, but wrote the following comments.

“Seth is the embodiment of dedication and perseverance. He decided to come back for football his junior year after taking a year off. He worked hard at practice and in the weight room but with the entire starting line, more experienced seniors ahead of him on the depth chart, he didn't see a lot of playing time that year.

“Seth continued to live in the weight room through wrestling season and then track season and then through the following summer. He entered his senior year as the strongest player on the team, becoming our first player to earn a 1,000-pound Club T-shirt, and make no mistake it made a huge difference for Seth.”

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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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