Wrestling History
The Hill School wrestling program has one of the best prep school traditions in the country. Under former Coach Frank Bissell ’33, Hill won 17 National Prep School Championships and 36 Hill wrestlers went on to captain their college teams; countless more wrestlers went on to find individual and team success. This success has been continued recently with Hill finishing in the top five at three of the last 10 National Prep Tournaments. Additionally, Hill wrestlers have the opportunity to compete in freestyle wrestling during the spring season. Several wrestlers have found a great deal of success at freestyle tournaments. This has included a second place finish by Dave Hoffman ’01 and a fourth place finish by Zach Doll ’00 at the Junior National Championships in Fargo, North Dakota. Dave currently is an assistant coach at Bucknell University.
Vision/Mission Statement
Hill’s coaching staff is passionate about the success of their wrestlers. Coaches spent countless hours with their wrestlers improving technique, discussing strategy, and improving strength and conditioning. There are several factors that have worked to benefit our program:
• Assistant Coach Tom Hutchinson is one of the premier wrestling technicians in the country.
• Guest clinicians include: 2X Olympic Gold Medalist Sergei Beloglazov, 2X NCAA Champion Mark Lieberman, and former Lehigh Head Coach Thad Turner
• In 2009, a generous gift from Walter Price ’66 in honor of his former coach Frank Bissell ‘33, revitalized Sweeney Gymnasium installing one of the largest mat hoists in the country. Sweeney now can be set up to host three mats in a matter of minutes.
• Hill is situated between the Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia. This is a source of high caliber wrestling talent from which the team can recruit. Additionally, as a boarding school the school can accept the best wrestlers from around the country.
• The Great Valley Youth Wrestling program uses our facilities twice a week. It is an elite team of local youth wrestlers coached by local coaches serves as an appropriate feeder system to our school.
Click here to read more about Hill's wrestling coaching staff.