Summer showings bode well for Eagles

Skylar Huff, Schuyler Swanton's recent success have Springstead looking forward to the winter.

By DAVID MURPHY
Published July 17, 2007

Pity the pedestrian who happened to be walking outside Springstead's team hotel at the state wrestling championship this past winter. As Skylar Huff's teammates readied themselves for the weekend tournament in Lakeland, the 119-pound junior spent the morning vomiting over the balcony in his room.

"I could have wrestled at 112 pounds," said Huff, recounting the amount of weight he lost because of an ill-timed case of food poisoning.

Sick and weak, Huff won two matches before losing and checking into the hospital. Now, six months later, he sounds determined to use his senior season to erase the experience from his memory.

Two weeks ago at the Disney Duals in Orlando, which featured 60 teams from across the country, Huff went 10-0 and, in the words of Springstead coach Eric Swensen, "dominated everybody."

Huff's performance helped Springstead finish a respectable 25th and showed the Eagles likely again will be a team to be reckoned with once the winter sports season begins.

"He puts in as much time as anyone else," Swensen said. "If he wrestles smart, I don't think anyone else can match his intensity."

Huff isn't the only Springstead wrestler who appears to be setting himself up for a big season.

Schuyler Swanton, who won a state title at 103 pounds last year as a junior, will compete in the Junior National Championships in Fargo, N.D., next week, where last year he earned All-America honors by placing fifth at 98 pounds.

Late last month, he went 6-1 at the Junior National Duals in Oklahoma City against the same competition he'll face in North Dakota.

"I think his chances are excellent," Swensen said.

Swanton hopes another solid showing at nationals will help attract the attention of big-time college coaches.

"Every one you wrestle there is good," he said.

Swensen said that another All-America performance should allow Swanton to have his choice of schools at the next level.

But for the time being everyone's focus remains on preparation for the scholastic season still five months away.

"We haven't stopped wrestling," Swensen said.

And with state title contenders like Huff and Swanton, they likely won't for quite some time.

David Murphy can be reached at (352) 848-1407 or dmurphy@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 16, 2007, 22:36:57]