First Posted: 2/18/2015
Sal Diaz is used to the spotlight ever since he stepped foot on the Wyoming Seminary campus as a freshman.
In the wrestler’s senior year, the Blue Knights won the National Prep Championships. Through that, and hard work, Diaz, of Duryea, has continued his wrestling career for Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va.
Diaz, a 2014 graduate of Wyoming Seminary, started wrestling at a young age. From first grade to his freshman year, Diaz wrestled for Pittston Area. He decided to head to Sem to begin his high school career.
That time spent on a national-caliber high school team helped Diaz prepare for the next level, even though it was a big transition to the NCAA Division 3 level.
“It was definitely a huge adjustment even though I was on a national-caliber wrestling team,” Diaz said. “The competition is extremely different.”
Last year, the Sem wrestling team swept the National Prep Wrestling Championship with a score of 299.5, beating Blair Academy, of New Jersey, by 43 points. Diaz finished this season 5-13 at Washington and Lee, but provided some sparks along the way.
At the Generals Invitational, Washington and Lee claimed three individual championships on its way to a second-place finish out of 10 teams. Diaz helped them get there.
The Duryea native finished second at 174 pounds. He pinned Gettysburg’s Shahn Savino in 6:12 after receiving a bye. In the second round, Diaz rattled Shawn Flesch of Scranton, in 6:51. He would eventually fall to Gettysburg’s Tyler Cunningham, 4-2, in the championship bout.
On Jan. 17 against Muhlenburg, Diaz pinned Jim Coiley in 2:21. A week later, he took down Jered Forman of Johns Hopkins, 5-3. Four of Diaz’s five wins this season came via pins.
“I had some pretty good individual matches,” Diaz said. “The competition is more consistently good. There’s definitely a larger pool of much better athletes.”
At the beginning of the season, Diaz would have considered himself more of a defensive wrestler. However, through the last couple months working with head coach Nathan Shearer, Diaz has been working on his offensive output.
His pins over the last month of the season show that.
“I’ve been trying to generate more offense on my feet,” he said. “I’m in a transition period and I’ve been working a lot to change that.”
Diaz was contacted by Shearer while he was at Wyoming Seminary. After a visit to the campus, it was a no-brainer where Diaz would be continuing his education. Washington and Lee has a great liberal arts department, he said.
“I absolutely loved the campus,” Diaz said. “They just have good traditions and obviously it’s a really good school from an academic standpoint.”
Outside of wrestling, Diaz is involved with several different organizations at Washington and Lee. He’s been part of Mock Trial since he was at Wyoming Seminary and his Washington and Lee team just advanced out of regionals in a competition. He plans on being a state representative for the Mock Convention in the future.
With all that, Diaz plans to join a fraternity soon. The rigors of being a college athlete of Diaz’s caliber haven’t been much of an issue.
“I think I’ve been managing it pretty well thus far,” he said. “It’s definitely time consuming. There’s a lot that has to be done. As long as you manage your time correctly it’s not as hard as you think.”
Diaz is the son of Maureen Diaz, Avoca, and Salvadore Diaz, Duryea. He will be double-majoring in economics and politics.
Although Washington and Lee is more than five hours from his hometown, Diaz said his parents have been able to make it down to see him wrestle once in a while. That means a lot to him, he said.
“They come down every once in a while,” Diaz said. “It’s fantastic. I really do appreciate any time they come. It’s just great to see them in the stands. It meant a lot in high school but this is different.”
