Expand<\/a><\/p>\nKINGSTON \u2013 Michael Turi had a decision. And it was a major one.<\/p>\n
On one side of the coin was an opportunity most covet. A chance to wrestle at one of the top high school wrestling schools in the nation. A once-in-a-lifetime chance, some will say.<\/p>\n
The flip side was the chance to set records. Turi, a three-time Class 3A state-placer \u2013 including a third-place finish as a junior at West Scranton \u2013 could have rewrote the Invader record books, and maybe, those in District 2.<\/p>\n
Calling it one of the toughest choices he\u2019s had to make, Turi went with his gut and decided Wyoming Seminary was going to help him prepare for his future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like getting that tough wrestling schedule at Wyoming Seminary, and with the schooling, it was going to prepare me before going to college and experiencing that kind of atmosphere,\u201d Turi said.<\/p>\n
With that, Turi embarked on a journey to the Kingston school for his senior year.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s been a good one for the former Invader. He recently won the 150-pound title at the Pennsylvania Prep State Tournament, and will look to close out his high-school career with a National Prep championship.<\/p>\n
The two-day tournament at Lehigh University begins Friday and runs through Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited because it\u2019s the end of my high school career. I just have to make the most of it,\u201d Turi said. \u201cBeing a Prep National champ would mean a lot. I\u2019ve been working toward this tournament all year. Coach (Will) Weber has been telling me that being a national champion at the end of the year is all that matters. That would mean a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walk inside the West Scranton gymnasium, and all the wrestling banners on the far wall of the structure are immediately striking.<\/p>\n
League championships. District honors and 100-win coaches. Then, there is multiple banners reserved for 100-match winners.<\/p>\n
At the bottom of that blue banner is the white letter with Turi\u2019s name and his 130-win count.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what made his decision so tough. He grew up in West Scranton, and his family attended the school. If he stood his senior year, most likely, he breaks the school\u2019s record for all-time career wins and maybe, becomes the Invaders\u2019 first state champion. Win enough matches, and the District 2 all-time wins record by Abington Heights\u2019 Brian Heard also comes into play.<\/p>\n
Then, there were countless friendships and relationship built throughout the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very tough,\u201d Turi said. \u201cI loved the coaches there, and I grew up in West Side. I\u2019ve been there my whole life. It was a tough decision because of how close I was with my coaches and my teammates. I still thank them to this day for everything they have done for me. They have been great to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Basically, it came down to one question.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest question that I had to answer is what do I want to do and what would be best for me? For me, I just felt that it was going to benefit me more by challenging myself to that tougher schedule and with the tougher schooling,\u201d Turi said. \u201cFor me, it was about experiencing that Seminary environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was an adjustment period, for sure.<\/p>\n
The wrestling schedule was a huge upgrade.<\/p>\n
The academic rigors matched it.<\/p>\n
Now, Turi found himself on the end of one of the toughest scholastic wrestling schedules in the nation at a school that was also going to push him similarly, or maybe even more, in the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a huge change,\u201d said Turi, who committed to Cornell University as a junior. \u201cIt was a whole different vibe and set-up. The biggest difference is that you have free periods, and it\u2019s not like you are in the classroom every period. It\u2019s more like being at a college with the structure of the classes. I liked the structure. I really did enjoy that we had that free time between classes to focus on getting ahead on the work that you aren\u2019t really rushing it all at the end of the night after practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the mat, he\u2019s also excelled.<\/p>\n
One of the top wrestlers in the nation, Turi carried a record of 27-6 in the regular season, and won all four of his Pa. Prep State Tournament matches Saturday He\u2019s faced the best \u2013 Faith Christian Academy\u2019s Joe Bachmann, Bishop McCort\u2019s Bo Bassett. Malvern Prep\u2019s Declan O\u2019Byrne and Upper Perk\u2019s Luke Knox.<\/p>\n
The Blue Knight just beat O\u2019Byrne last weekend for the Pennsylvania Prep state title in a battle of nationally-ranked grapplers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been good. I\u2019ve been doing well,\u201d Turi said. \u201cThere\u2019s been some ups and downs, but it\u2019s been good for me to challenge myself like this. To be honest, it\u2019s been such a good thing to see where I am at and see where I need to keep improving. The biggest surprise, really, is the first tournament of the year is like, bang, you are going to probably the toughest tournament of the year at the Ironman. That was a little surprising. I feel like I was pretty prepared for this.\u201d<\/p>\n
One tournament left.<\/p>\n
One more opportunity to wrestle for Wyoming Seminary.<\/p>\n
One more chance to don that Blue Knight singlet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I bring out of my one season here is the prestige of wrestling at Wyoming Seminary and being able to wear a Sem singlet. To have an opportunity to wrestle on one of the top teams in the country. It\u2019s a pretty cool and special thing,\u201d Turi said.<\/p>\n
And also, the growth \u2013 both on and off the mat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve grown a lot as a person and a wrestler. As a wrestler, I really learned that there are some little things that I do need to improve on in order to have a successful college career. As a person, I learned about being more independent and doing things on my own. And that\u2019s something I\u2019ll be able to carry with me to college,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wyoming Seminary\u2019s Michael Turi grabs Blair Academy\u2019s Ben Koch during a wrestling match at Wyoming Seminary on Saturday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-118790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-high-school-sports","9":"tag-scranton","10":"tag-scranton-headlines","11":"tag-scranton-news","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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