UPJ gets Portage wrestler

Sports

Related Photos

Portage wrestler David Kephart (center) is flanked by his parents, Dave and Elise, on Thursday as he commits to continue his career at Pitt-Johnstown. Eric Knopsnyder

Discussion

April 22, 2011

UPJ gets Portage wrestler

Eric Knopsnyder eknopsnyder@tribdem.com The Tribune-Democrat Fri Apr 22, 2011, 12:12 AM EDT

EBENSBURG — David Kephart accomplished a lot on high school wrestling mat – winning 131 matches and earning a PIAA medal – but he knows that he’ll need to improve to be a successful wrestler at the collegiate level.

In some ways, the Bishop Carroll senior, who wrestles for Portage, has already been working on that for a season. Kephart was a two-time state qualifier heading into his senior season, but that didn’t keep first-year coach Adam Whetstone from overhauling his style. Whetstone wanted to take the penchant for big moves that had allowed Kephart to pile up wins at the district and regional levels and balance it out with solid fundamentals that would serve the 189-pounder better at the higher levels.

But that wasn’t the only change that Whetstone helped facilitate in Kephart.

“He came out, guns blazing, changed my personality from this cocky, arrogant little kid who thought he was good at wrestling into a half-decent human being,” Kephart said.

“He’s done a lot of work for me. He’s done a lot of great things for me. He taught me what wrestling’s all about, what it’s supposed to turn you into. I think he’s done a pretty good job of that.”

Maybe it’s shouldn’t be a surprise then, that Kephart followed Whetstone’s lead in another area.

Kephart announced on Thursday that he will wrestle for Pat Pecora at Pitt-Johnstown, the same coach who helped develop Whetstone into an All-American.

“I was looking at a bunch of football opportunities,” Kephart said of his college recruiting process. “(Bishop Carroll coach Craig Sponsky) really worked hard at getting us a lot of opportunities with football. UPJ was always in the back of my mind.

“That’s always an option. Coach Whetstone talked to me about it. I talked to Coach Pecora. I loved the atmosphere there.

“I love the campus. And it’s one of the best Division II college wrestling programs you can get into. I figured that would be the best place to call home.”

It’s not far from Kephart’s Portage home, and he’s already familiar with some of the wrestlers there, including former teammate Shawn Perich, who just completed his freshman season with the Mountain Cats.

“I know a few of the guys there,” Kephart said. “I know Peaches. Peaches will be there.

“He’s a good guy to hang around with. He’s fun. We wrestled for three years together at Portage. We’ll just keep the friendship going there.”

Kephart went 131-21 in high school and finished seventh in Class AA at 189 pounds this season. He won the District 6 championship and was second in the Southwest Region as a senior.

But he knows it will take time to adapt to college wrestler, which is much more dependent on a strong ability to wrestle from the neutral position.

“I’ve always been all right on top and bottom,” said Kephart, who expects to wrestle at 184 pounds. “I really need to work on my neutral. That’s college wrestling right down to the sciences. If you can stand up on your feet and you can be good on your feet, you’ll be a good college wrestler.”

Kephart will redshirt next season, which will give him time to adapt to college.

“I’m going to spend the rest of the summer and go into my redshirt freshman year working on my feet with the rest of the college guys,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll improve to be an all right wrestler by my freshman and sophomore year.”

With limited competition in his freshman season, Kephart will also be able to concentrate on his studies.

“I’m going to go undecided the first year, just to get the redshirt out of the way, I think,” he said. “Then I’m going to go into premed. “

He hasn’t decided what type of doctor he wants to be.

“I’ve got four years to decide that,” he said. “I just know I want to go into the medical field and become a doctor. I don’t know if I want to be a surgeon or specialize in plastic surgery or something like that. I’ve got a long time to decide that.”

Kephart is the son of Dave and Elise Kephart of Portage.

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Sports

Four solo home runs lead Reds past Pirates
Todd Frazier wasn’t going to let left-hander Francisco Liriano get another fastball by him. He guessed right and hit one a long way.

June 17, 2013 1 Photo
Laurel Auto belts way to victory
Zach Heide’s two-run home run cleared the Screen Monster in left field at Point Stadium and kick-started Laurel Auto Group’s scoring in its 8-2 victory over Ketrow Insurance Monday night in a AAABA league game.

June 17, 2013
Bruins blank Blackhawks, take 2-1 series lead
Tuukka Rask shut out the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals on Monday night and got enough help from the Bruins' offense to do it without another exhausting overtime.

June 17, 2013
Former Penn St. players support Paterno family lawsuit
About 325 former Penn State players and coaches have signed a statement supporting the lawsuit filed by the family of former coach Joe Paterno and other former players seeking to overturn NCAA sanctions against the football program for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

June 17, 2013 1 Photo
Local baseball in brief 6/18/2013
June 17, 2013
Hawkeyes product Ihm pulls away from field for Sunnehanna victory
When NCAA runner-up Rick Lamb made four birdies over a six-hole stretch during the fourth round of the 60th Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament for Champions, he couldn’t help but notice every time he looked at the leaderboard, Lamb failed to pare down his deficit.
When Cory Whitsett, who recently helped Alabama win a national championship and was competing in his third Sunnehanna Amateur, birdied Nos. 3 and 4 Sunday morning, the fast start wasn’t one to savor.
Lamb’s inability to make a move and Whitsett’s lack of optimism can directly be attributed to one thing – the steady, patient play of Steven Ihm.

June 16, 2013 1 Photo
Sunnehanna notebook: Putting critical to success at Amateur
Cory Whitsett capped his third round at the 60th Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament for Champions with a lengthy par putt.
Whitsett topped himself to end Sunday’s fourth and final round with a birdie putt from approximately 35 feet in No. 18.

June 16, 2013 1 Photo
Pirates get past Dodgers
Rookie Gerrit Cole won again, getting home run help from Pedro Alvarez and pitching the Pittsburgh Pirates past the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3 Sunday.
Cole (2-0) allowed three runs on seven hits and no walks in 5 2/3 innings. The top pick from the 2011 draft won in his big league debut last week.

June 16, 2013 1 Photo
CORY ISENBERG | The long and the longer of Lantzy game
The 43rd Ken Lantzy Finest 40 All-Star football game on Friday at Greater Johnstown’s Trojan Stadium highlighted the outstanding gridiron talent of this crop of senior athletes throughout the region.
The move to Friday night doesn’t seem to have dampened the enthusiasm of the crowd, which was outstanding on Friday night, including a 50-50 drawing of over $600.
For the most part, the game itself seemed to go off with few hitches, but there are still some tweaks that I would like to suggest.

June 16, 2013
Ihm captures Sunnehanna title
Steven Ihm held or shared the lead in each of the first three rounds at the 60th Sunnehanna Amateur

Tournament for Champions.

For Sunday’s final round, Ihm continued his dominance.

The University of Iowa product shot a blistering 4-under 31 on the front nine to seize a commanding lead that Ihm would not relinquish in winning the tournament with an 8-under 272.

June 16, 2013
More Sports Headlines

What event is most likely to happen in 2013?

Sports

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

UPJ gets Portage wrestler

What event is most likely to happen in 2013?

Contact Us