Lane Foard Selected to Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic All-Star Team
Foard will take on Team PA March 29th
Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com
On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic (formerly known as the Dapper Dan) announced its lineup for the USA All-Star portion of the event. For those not familiar with this dual, it is held every year in Western Pennsylvania and features a lineup of Pennsylvania All-Star seniors against a team made up of notable seniors from around the country.
This year’s All-Star team will feature a wrestler from Virginia - Benedictine 190 lber Lane Foard.
Foard has put together an excellent senior year with finals appearances at the Walsh Ironman and the Beast of the East. Those finals losses are the only two on the year for Foard, against 29 wins. Foard has claimed titles at the MyHouse TrojanWars and the East Coast Catholic Classic, hosted by Benedictine.
When Foard last took the mat, he captured his third VISAA State Championship with three falls and a forfeit. He’ll try for a National Prep Championship this weekend on the campus of Lehigh University. Foard has earned a spot on the National Prep podium in each of his three previous appearances finishing third last year, eighth as a sophomore, and seventh as a freshman.
One of the unique characteristics of Foard is his ability to improve as he has packed on size over the past four years. His first VISAA title came as a freshman at 113 lbs and he was a 165 lber last season.
The National Prep website currently has Foard ranked first among their member schools. He is also ranked third in the nation at 190 lbs via MatScouts. The site also had Foard #43 overall amongst the Class of 2025. I’d expect that number to rise slightly as it hasn’t been updated since the high school season began.
Foard has already signed to continue wrestling at the University of Wyoming. Wyoming coaches have told me that he could project as a 174 lber at the next level.
You don’t have to look very far to find the last time a Virginia native was selected to participate in the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic. Future Virginia Tech All-American TJ Stewart was victorious in the 2022 edition. Foard is the first wrestler from a Virginia high school to be selected since 2019, when John Birchmeier (Broad Run) got a win at heavyweight. Also, that year, Kurt McHenry wrestled and won.
Foard’s opponent is to be determined. That is typically not settled on until after the Pennsylvania State tournament. Since the match is wrestled under Pennsylvania’s state weights, it will take place at 189 lbs (which doesn’t seem to be an issue for Foard).
Two likely candidates for Foard to take on are Ty Morrison (West Perry) and Caleb Close (Bald Eagle Area). PaPower Wrestling has Morrison listed as the top-ranked AAA wrestler in the state. They also have Close as the #2 AA wrestler - but the highest-ranked senior in that classification. Foard got by Morrison 1-0 in the finals of TrojanWars this year.