All-star selections, while an honor, generally do not have worth beyond stroking the ego of the person selected or being a source of pride for fans.
In Steven Newell’s case, selection to the Pennsylvania All-Academic team in wrestling ultimately carried with it a true value.
When he earned his way onto that list, Newell caught the attention of Davidson University coaches, starting the process that led to him accepting a partial athletic scholarship to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I school in North Carolina.
Newell held a signing ceremony for the scholarship Wednesday at Dallas High School, after giving coaches his verbal commitment in October and actually signing the agreement last week.
“They found me through that, did a little research and reached out to my coach,” Newell said.
Qualifying for and competing well at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 3A state tournament in Hershey while maintaining a nearly flawless academic record put Newell on the list of top student-athlete wrestlers in Pennsylvania.
Newell went 41-5 as a junior at Dallas, winning his second District 2 title, qualifying for his first tournament by placing fourth in the Northeast Regional at Bethlehem, and pushing his career record to 114-22. Once in Hershey, Newell picked up two more wins and suffered a pair of one-point losses – one on overtime, tiebreaker criteria – to wrestlers who earned medals.
The strong performance in what is annually regarded as the nation’s toughest state wrestling tournament told Newell the dream he held for years – to wrestle on the Division I college level – was within reach.
“I had a pretty successful regular season and then when I made it to the state tournament, I was having close, competitive matches with some of the best guys in the country,” Newell said. “ … I knew then that Division I was an attainable goal.
“When I hit that threshold, I knew that Division I was within reach.”
The Davidson coaches agreed.
Newell went on an unofficial visit in July and later returned for his more formal, official recruiting visit – the only one he wound up taking.
“As soon as I got to the campus, I just loved it,” said Newell, who plans to major in biology.
Newell also made an unofficial visit to Brown, an Ivy League school in Providence, R.I., and had been in contact with recruiters from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. As he was approaching his final decision, Newell also received interest from Edinboro University, which is Division I in wrestling.
Newell expects to wrestle at 182 for the Mountaineers as a senior and said he projects at 174 or 184 pounds for college.
With the college commitment behind him, Newell is a hard at work a week away from the start of his final high school season.
“This year, to place up as high in the states as I possibly could and get on that podium is the ultimate goal,” he said.
