The Manheim Central School Board has hired former Penn State wrestling coach Troy Sunderland to lead Manheim’s high school wrestling program.
Sunderland, who stepped down in April after directing the Nittany Lion program for eleven years, replaces Shane Mack, who resigned to accept a teaching position in the Derry Township School District.
A 1993 Penn State grad, Sunderland coached the Lions to a 115-90-2 record in dual meets and four Top-10 finishes at the NCAA Division I championships. Under Sunderland, the Lions’ best team finish at Nationals came in 2008 when they placed third overall.
Sunderland coached three individual NCAA champions, twenty-five All-Americans and seven Big-10 champions.
Named the 1999 “Rookie Coach of the Year” by the Amateur Wrestling News, Sunderland was also recognized as the 2003 Big-10 Coach of the Year.
A two-time PIAA champion at Mt. Union High School, the McVeytown native was a three-time All-American, and two-time NCAA runnerup, for Penn State, winning 100 individual matches.
He was the Outstanding Wrestler of the 1993 Big-10 Championships, winning the 150-pound title, and also won the Eastern Wrestling League 150-pound title in 1992, Penn State’s last year affiliated with the EWL.
He led the Lions to a second-place finish at the 1993 NCAA tournament as a senior and returned to State College that Fall as an assistant to his college coach, John Fritz.
After three years, Sunderland took a similar position at the United States Naval Academy, returning to “Happy Valley” as Fritz’s replacement in 1998.
While he works on gaining the credits necessary for secondary education certification, Sunderland, whose undergrad degree is in Earth Sciences, will work with former Elizabethtown College and Millersville University wrestling coach Steve Capoferri . Capoferri runs a number of alternate education schools and Sunderland will serve as a behavorial specialist at the Shiremanstown location.
