Dan Vallimont sat down before the last wrestling season and typed a list of goals for himself. When the Penn State sophomore was finished, three pages of objectives sat on his printer.
Vallimont looked them over. Two of his goals stood out: Win a national title at 157 pounds and be "more vocal and lead by example."
He came up short with his first goal, finishing in third-place at the NCAA tournament. But his performance was inspiring and spoke for itself.
The usually quiet Vallimont went 5-1 in the NCAA tournament to earn his first All-America medal. He was close to a national title but lost to Illinois' Mike Poeta by a single point in the semifinals.
"I feel pretty good altogether," said Vallimont, who ended the season 32-3. "It's looking good for next year."
Aaron Anspach, a former Nittany Lion heavyweight and current director of wrestling operations, traveled with the team to St. Louis for the NCAA tournament and said Vallimont's performance throughout the season should be an example to his teammates.
They might need it a little more next season in the absence of some familiar faces.
The team will lose four time All-American and national champion Phil Davis and All-American Mark McKnight to graduation. Senior co-captain Tim Haas could also be gone but is still waiting to find out if he will get an additional year of eligibility.
"Dan is a leader on the team," Anspach said yesterday. "Sometimes he doesn't always lead by being vocal, but he does lead by example.
"We're hoping Dan will become a little more vocal next year, but from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, he definitely was considered one of the leaders on the team and we're expecting him to be one of the main leaders next year."
Anspach said Vallimont's rise started at the beginning of the season, when he won the starting spot at wrestle-offs.
Vallimont didn't lose a match until he faced Poeta for the first time on Feb. 3. He finished the season ranked No. 3 behind the Illini grappler and top-ranked Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro. Vallimont downed Gillespie in the consolation semis.
"After he set himself up as one of the best guys in the country, I think that's when Dan started to be more vocal and just really appoint himself as one of the leaders on the team," Anspach said.
As he stood in the tunnel leading to the medal podium last Saturday, Vallimont looked down at two bags of ice on his knees. The blue-collar grappler from Lake Hopatcong, N.J., dismissed them, saying he wouldn't take much of a break in the offseason.
"They don't really give us that much time off," Vallimont said. "When I'm not working out I kind of feel like I'm being lazy and I do something anyway."
Vallimont is not one to miss a workout. In fact, Anspach said, he never misses any time drilling and conditioning with the team. When Vallimont's class schedule conflicted with practice times, he called assistant coach John Hughes to schedule a makeup, Anspach said.
Illinois head coach Mark Johnson was matside for all three of Vallimont's losses to Poeta. The Illini coach said yesterday that even though Vallimont lost twice before the meeting with Poeta in the championship tournament, the Illini coaching staff was concerned about having to face Vallimont again.
"The draw worried me because to beat somebody three times in one season is very difficult," Johnson said. "To beat a good guy three times is very difficult. We know how good Vallimont is and Mike Poeta knows how good he is.
"He's just got a great style for collegiate wrestling and he's going to be on track to be a great one for Penn State."
