Local pair wrestle way into school history

White ranked best at 125

By: Sean Moylan
   Being the best often comes with pressure and a price.
   When you’re the best everyone is trying to knock you off the "mountain top" and you always get your opponent’s best effort.
   But Peddie’s Dan White, the Nation’s best 125-pound prep school wrestler, revels in the challenge.
   "As the competition gets tougher, I feel like I get better. The best of me comes out," said White, a junior, who won his third straight individual wrestling crown and was chosen as the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the 72nd National Prep Tournament at Lehigh University a couple of weeks ago.
   While many of the other individual champions won their matches any way possible, White dominated the opposition with five straight pins and was easily the tourney’s best grappler.
   White finished the year with an amazing 42-1 record. With a lifetime mark of 134-7, he is perhaps the greatest wrestler ever to wear a singlet at Peddie.
   Last season White won at 125 pound and two years ago he captured the 103 pound Prep title. White’s only regret was that his workout partner at Peddie, Chris Piccolella, didn’t place in the Prep state tournament too.
   This season the young Peddie Falcons developed an "us against the world" mentality under head coach John Leonardis. But you have to do those kind of things when you’re only sending 10 or 11 wrestlers to the mat each varsity match.
   Peddie grapplers have wrestling in their blood. That is why while most of the Peddie students spent the past weekend enjoying their spring break at their homes, White was in Atlantic City watching the best public school wrestlers battle it out for state titles.
   "I go there (the state wrestling tournament) every year because it’s right after the season," said White, who if the rules permitted it, would love to wrestle against the public school kids at the state tournament. But the best often seek out the best.
   White has been working at being the best wrestler he could be ever since he was 6 years old and his father took him down to see local kids wrestle at the recreational center in South Brunswick. He caught the wrestling bug that day and his wrestling fever has only intensified ever since. White wrestled as a freshman at South Brunswick High School, but his dream was always to go to Peddie.
   "Kevin Fox went there (Peddie) and he’s from South Brunswick," said White, who was accepted into Peddie three years ago and started over as a freshman.
   A fantastic student, White takes A.P. classes in Biology, Physiology and Calculus. After high school he’d like to attend an Ivy League university and he has the grades to do so. However, wrestling played a huge part in White’s decision to go to Peddie.
   "John Leonardis is a great coach," said White. "Leo (Leonardis’ nickname) taught me to be the wrestler I am. Leo taught me how to focus."
   As a team, the Falcons faced more obstacles than most prep school wrestling programs. They only had three home matches all season. Except for a few matches in the middle of the season where junior varsity kids filled in, Peddie usually wrestled short-handed. Because the academic standards at Peddie are so high, the school has had trouble getting great wrestlers in recent years. But the Falcons’ certainly got a great one in White.
   With so much inexperience on the squad, Leonardis was shooting for a little better than .500 this season. But with guys like White, Frank Cimato, Piccolella, Zak Mayo, Dylan Isenberg and Chase Badger leading the way, Peddie finished 13-6. White was also able to finally capture a prize which had eluded him the previous two years, when he won at the Beast of the East tournament.
   "That’s been a goal of mine ever since I went to Peddie," added White, who beats most of his opponents with his signature turk (far-leg) move.
   Shortly after winning gold in the Beast of the East tournament, White lost a 5-4 decision to Carevel Academy’s Jarrod Garnet in the 125-pound finals at the A.I. duPont Tiger Classic Tournament. While some had problems with the scoring in the match, White refused to make excuses for his only loss of the season.
   "It just wasn’t my day. He (Garnet) was on that day," said White, who would like another crack at Garnet.
   After those tournaments Leonardis turned up the intensity in the room and White, as a consequence, became more unbeatable than ever. He also began to mentally prepare himself to wrestle several matches a day.
   "(Being mentally ready) comes with experience. I get nervous but I want to control it," said White, who tries to wrestle his best every time out.
   Often times this season, White helped his team by wrestling up a weight at 130. Unselfish, he does whatever it takes to make sure Peddie wins as many matches as possible. He and the other Peddie wrestlers will now start a weekly training regimen for next season of three days wrestling and three days lifting. And this summer he will compete in the Fargo Nationals.
   Because White jumped from 103 to 125, it took a while for the experts to catch on to just how great he is. Leonardis, who knew right away what he had in his 125-pound star, is pleased to see others finally give White the recognition he deserves. While White would prefer to be the underdog, being the best has elevated his skills on the mat.
   "Recently I was looking through an Amateur Wrestling magazine and I saw my picture. It was such a clear shot of me in my Peddie singlet," said White.
   The magazine listed White as the top 125-pounder in the country. Now amateur wrestling fans across the USA know what Peddie has known for quite some time — White is the best there is.