Courtesy of Stephen Maugeri, Kutztown Area Patriot. The story was originally published on Thursday, Jan. 22, and can be seen in its original form at the following links: Page 1 | Page 2
 
Kutztown University heavyweight Ziad Haddad currently stands as public enemy number one in the Division II wrestling world. The senior currently boasts a 13-0 record on the year and firmly sits atop the national Heavyweight polls.
 
Complimentarily, he has dealt multi-point drubbings to numerous Division I foes on the season. He has yet to surrender a takedown in his last 41 bouts, and his anticipatory style makes opposing coaches marvel.
 
He views grappling as more than just a sport, but as a character-building lifestyle. No other sport is boiled down so succinctly to two men duking it out in a battle of timing and technique, and where fight or flight is a key element.
 
The Orefield, Pa. native has not tasted defeat for almost two years, dating back to the 2013 national tournament.
 
The loss evoked a new level of resolve in him, and since that day, he conducts his business with an unmatchable competitive flair. From the minute he returned to the hotel, he settled for nothing short of perfection in every facet of the sport. Haddad made physical and nutritional changes since 2013, coming to the realization that matches are prematurely won in the kitchen and weight room.
 
"I really dedicated myself the week after nationals. I met with Coach Fisher and got a plan together to be a national champion. That was something set in stone from a nutritional standpoint, a training standpoint and a lifestyle standpoint," he said." 
 
To further hone his craft, Haddad began training at the Lehigh Valley Athletic Club to fully commit himself towards his aspiration of national gold. To this very day, Haddad spars rigorously with current Lehigh University heavyweights Doug Vollero and Max Wessell, along with former national champions Zach Rey and Dave Zabriske.
 
Rey graduated from Lehigh in 2012, and currently competes internationally for the United States national team. Zabriske was a four-time national qualifier and three-time All-American at Iowa State from 2006-2010. 
 
The group's routine is overseen under strict NCAA ordinance by the tutelage of renowned coach Jeff Buxon.
 
"[They] push me as hard as I need to be pushed. Each one of them brings something to the table. We train for a purpose, and when you train for a purpose, you get a lot more out of it."   
 
Haddad, a Bethlehem Catholic product, admits that his roots play a role in his approach to the sport. He claims that the Lehigh Valley ethos carved out his perpetual thirst for success during his formative years.    
 
"[The Lehigh Valley] is a blue-collar area; People here put in an honest day's work. You grow up that way. There's no more blue-collar sport than wrestling. Growing up with the competition around here, it forces you to be better," he said.
 
As a district 11 alumnus, Haddad is keenly aware of how Pennsylvania's wrestling roots run long and deep. In the last fifty years, no other state has produced more NCAA All-Americans (503) in all three levels of competition.  
 
Notwithstanding his accomplishments, his climb to the top of the wrestling ladder did not lack hardship. In 2006, after an undefeated state championship season his senior year of high school, Haddad had enrolled at Division I wrestling hotbed North Carolina. A propitious future was in the cards.
 
To the chagrin of his family and coaches, a number of academic and off-the matt issues led to his dismissal from school, and any likelihood of a comeback looked like a pipe dream.
 
Haddad took up a job in construction, ballooned in weight, and alienated himself from his family. His self-esteem deflated to basement-level status, until his family and loved ones campaigned an intervention for the former state champion. 
 
Shelly McCarthy, an ex-high school girlfriend, rekindled her relationship with Haddad, and helped him take the first steps of his redemptive journey. After a first failed attempt to re-admit him into school, she persisted to change his attitude to in order to join the Maroon and Gold.
 
"I was always supporting him, it was just a matter of him not being stubborn. He always wanted to wrestle, we just had to get him back into school."
 
Three years later, after finishing his climb to the top of the mountain in 2014, Haddad knew it was a collective effort when his hand was raised at the championship round of nationals.  
 
"The first thought that went through my head was: we did it. That was how I envisioned it. It was a 'we' moment," he said.
 
The two married shortly after, and looking back from where he came from, Haddad attributes McCarthy as the impetus to his decorum.
 
"She is the catalyst in my life right now. When we reconnected in 2011, she saw me at my lowest point, I was overweight at 275 pounds and had no intentions of doing anything school-related. But she saw the better in me, and believed in the better in me, he said."
 
Through the guidance of his family and wife, Haddad has fulfilled a lifetime goal, and is on pace to accomplish the same feat two-fold this spring.
 
Wrestling was always Ziad Haddad's passion, but In order to reach the pinnacle of the sport, it became his salvation.