Edmond Ruth has won two PIAA titles (Photo/Tom Elling)When it comes to wrestling, Edmond Ruth appears to be right at home in Pennsylvania.
The two-time PIAA state champ plans to complete his high school mat career in the Keystone State ... and continue his collegiate career by making a verbal commitment to Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., according to multiple news reports Monday night.
Finishing what he started at Susquehanna Township High ...
Despite media reports to the contrary, Edmond Ruth -- ranked 67th in the nation overall by InterMat -- will wrestle this season as a senior at Susquehanna Township High School near Harrisburg, where he has won back-to-back state titles in 2017 and 2018.
During the summer, there have been news stories that the rising senior would be finishing his prep career at Clovis North High in California.
Those stories were fueled by the fact Edmond spent much of the summer in California, where his older brother Edward "EZ Ed" Ruth -- an undefeated Bellator MMA fighter and three-time NCAA wrestling champ for Penn State -- now trains.
Thanayi Ruth, mother of both Edward and Edmond, pinned the story on her elder son, in this explanation to PennLive.com.
"Edward is an anomaly," Thanayi Ruth said. "He challenges the gray area, so he put it out there. I said, 'Why would you do that?' He said, 'Publicity for Edmond.' So, that's what that was."
"At that point, we were deciding he would leave Pennsylvania and go finish up in California with his brother," Thanayi Ruth continued. "But the things that were supposed to be put in place, as a mother, I didn't feel comfortable. I said, we'll try it in the summertime to see if it works and if the things get done and if I'm comfortable with it.
"I gave it a chance. I was not comfortable. He had to come home."
... then, on to Lehigh
The storied wrestling program at Lehigh University has landed a verbal commitment from Pennsylvania native Edmond Ruth.
The Bethlehem-based school served up an offer the Ruth family could not refuse.
"They came out of the woodwork," Thanayi Ruth told PennLive.com. "They came to visit us and we were like, 'Whoooo.'"
In reporting on Edmond Ruth's verbal commitment to Lehigh, PennLive.com's Dustin Hockensmith wrote, "For Edmond, he saw post-graduate opportunities and a chance to master one of his big interests, video production, and the business behind it. That's all in addition to a wrestling program that crowned three All-Americans and finished last season as the No. 10 team in the country, according to InterMat."
In exchange, the Mountain Hawks will be getting a wrestler in Edmond Ruth with an impressive mat resume, with two Pennsylvania state titles at 152 pounds as a sophomore and 170 as a junior, going into his senior season with a 103-10 career record, and 72-match win streak.
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