Vargo finds home with Edinboro
Chris Vargo wanted to wrestle for a top-notch program in college.
He also wanted to stay close to home.
The Charleroi senior who wrestles for Bentworth as part of a co-operative agreement believes he has found both in choosing to compete at the college level for Edinboro.
The Fighting Scots compete in Division II of the NCAA for every sport except wrestling, in which they are a Division-I program. Edinboro has had four national champions in Sean O’Day, Waynesburg native Josh Koscheck, Jarrod King and Gregor Gillespie.
Edinboro has three local wrestlers on its roster in Canon-McMillan graduate Gabriel Stafford, Waynesburg’s Eli Makel and Mapletown’s Brody Evans, who wrestled for Waynesburg in high school.
“They have a good culture up there,” Vargo said. “I loved the campus. It is nice and small, but also close to home, which was a big reason why I chose Edinboro. In terms of the wrestling, they are not one of the bigger schools and not a program that many people outside the wrestling community talk about, but they always have guys at the NCAAs and have won national titles, so it proves you don’t have to go to a huge college to succeed.”
Vargo considered other colleges near home in Clarion, Lock Haven and West Virginia, but the visit to the campus turned the tide.
“Obviously, I am going there to get a good education and wrestle at the highest level in college, but I also like that Lake Erie is so close,” Vargo said. “It will be nice to go fish and just take my mind off things.”
Vargo plans to study sports management and secondary education, and would like to be an athletic director.
Before Vargo heads north, he has some business to take care of in high school.
“I definitely want to finish my high school career as a state champion,” Vargo said. “I was second last year and placed third as a freshman and fifth as a sophomore. I have been wrestled for 14 years and work out at Quest School of Wrestling. I just have to take it one match at a time.”
Chris’ brother, Jonathan, wrestled in high school and finished fifth in the state his junior and senior seasons before competing at Mercyhurst. Jonathan wrestled at 182 and 195 pounds in high school, while Chris wrestled at 127 last season.
“He (Jonathan) is a little bit bigger than me,” said Chris while laughing. “I guess I am just the little guy in the family. We have a close family and it is exciting to be able to do this together.”