Wrestling
Favorite athlete: Sean O’Malley
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Going 5-0 as a team in our league last year
Music on Playlist: Lil Baby
Future plans: I plan on wrestling in college while studying exercise science
Words to live by: “Your lack of commitment is an insult the people who believe in you.”
-Conor McGregor
One goal before turning 30: Travel to desired locations
One thing people don’t know about me: I love cheese steaks
By GORDON GLANTZ
The sky is the limit.
It’s a common cliché, especially in sports, but there are times when the truth of it is hard to deny.
A case in point is Cheltenham senior wrestler Corey Bradley, whose arrow is pointing way up as a 172-pounder to watch.
“I think he finally believes how good he can be, which is exciting,” said Cheltenham coach Rob Weneck. “As coaches, we can talk him up all we want and try him give him confidence. Still, and even though he is an outstanding kid, he has to be able to prove it to himself.
“I think the sky is the limit for him this year.”
Like many seniors across the entire scholastic sports landscape, Bradley’s freshman year was lost to COVID restrictions.
Just as he was about to make up for the lost time, there was an unexpected detour. Bradley broke his ankle days before the start of his sophomore campaign.
He made his way back to the mat by January, but went .500.
“I was excited coming into the season, and that ankle injury kind of set me back,” said Bradley. “I came back in January, but I never really hit my stride. I didn’t have a great year. It was disappointing to me.”
Last year, as a junior, Weneck began to see Bradley realize his vast potential, and he made it as far as regionals.
“He’s one of those guys who, you know, I already miss,” said Weneck of his two-year captain. “He’s already a senior, and I feel cheated. His ninth grade year, we were on hiatus with COVID. His 10th grade year didn’t start until January due to an ankle injury. His full high school career will only be 2 ½ seasons.
“Last year, he just exploded. He was 32-8. He went to regionals and wrestled well there. He made a lot of tournament finals. He was a medalist everywhere. He really came into his own.”
So far, this season, the upward trend has included a recent 5-0 showing at a tournament at the Academy of the New Church and also reaching the finals at the Wetzel Classic at Hatboro-Horsham.
“He took second in a 32-man bracket,” said Weneck of the Wetzel Classic. “He lost 5-4 in the last 20 seconds to a kid that was ranked fifth in the state. He was beating him for a portion of the match.”
Bradley respects all opponents but fears none.
He didn’t go into the match with Pottsville’s Terrell McFarland just hoping for a moral victory.
“Going into the match, I definitely expected to win,” he said. “I didn’t do a whole ton of research on who I was wrestling. I was pretty confident. I knew it was winnable. Going through the match, I felt pretty good. He was hard to score on. He was definitely hard to score on.
“After the match, I was talking to my coaches. They said, ‘He’s a top-tier wrestler and you were hanging right in there with him.’ It definitely gave me a ton of confidence going forward. It’s one of those things that excites me and fires me up because it was such a close match.”
According to his coach, though, it won’t be long until the word gets out throughout the wrestling community.
For example, he was hearing from other coaches after his strong showing at the Wetzel Classic.
“I just think Corey is under the radar,” said Weneck. “He’s at Cheltenham. Our reputation is not strong. We haven’t done too much as a program in recent memory. Plus, he lost a year-and-a-half of his career. He just had the one year, last year, but he really didn’t win any tournaments. He just kind of flew under the radar.”
Making Changes
Bradley jumped three weight classes heading into his junior year. That was the result of natural growth, nutrition, weight lifting and taking Jiu Jitsu (earning a blue belt on the way to an ultimate goal of black belt).
“It’s mostly adults,” he said. “Working with them, it helped a ton, from just dealing with that ‘man’ strength.”
Bradley also deals with the strength of men facing assistant coach Evan Weneck, the son of Rob, on a regular basis in practice.
“He just helps a ton,” said Bradley of Evan Weneck. “He thinks that I can do big things this season.”
What the father-son coaching duo both note and appreciate is how cerebral Bradley is in his approach.
“He’s a real student of the sport, which I like,” said Weneck. “He’s very coachable. He stays after practice. He works with my son quite a bit. He takes advice. He asks questions. He’s just a pleasure. It’s almost like what a teacher would say about a student. He’s a pleasure to have in class.
“When you have a kid like Corey, he challenges you. He asks questions. He forces Evan and I to dig deep and to try and get into his mind.”
As far as Rob and Evan Weneck are concerned, any success achieved by Bradley is not only well-deserved because of how hard he works at his craft but also with how he conducts himself.
“I’ve never seen the kid in a bad mood in three years,” said Weneck. “He has a very good personality. He’s helpful when it comes to a lot of the younger guys in the room. I put a lot of chores on his plate in his captain role, whether it’s talking to some kids that need support or just more clerical things. I’ll ask him to send out group texts to the guys and get some things organized for me.”
Earning Recognition
A year ago, based on his success on the mat and in the classroom, Bradley earned PWAC All-State All-Academic recognition.
The requirements were winning 60 percent of his matches and having a GPA of at least 3.0. He easily eclipsed both, winning 80 percent of his matches and earning a GPA in the 3.4 range.
“That means a lot to me to be able to able to send that out to colleges and to let them know that I’m not only an athlete but that I also put a good foot forward in the classroom,” said Bradley, who gave up baseball focus on wrestling after being encouraged by his junior campaign as well as interest from several collegiate wrestling programs.
“The success of last year kind of opened my eyes to the idea of wrestling in college,” he said. “I see the doorway of qualifying for states and maybe even placing in states. I really would have regretted playing baseball and not qualifying for states or placing at states. I would rather put all of my energy into that and have no regrets. Even if I don’t place or qualify for states, I’ll know I did my best and tried my hardest.”
Bradley is currently earning interest from the likes of Elizabethtown, Misericordia, McDaniel (Md.), Millersville and Elmhurst (IL).
While it would have been ideal to have already made his choice and just focus on the season, he knows that he will be a collegiate wrestler when the dust settles.
It’s just a matter of finding the right fit.
“I’m doing a pretty good job with that,” said Bradley. “Time management is huge. You don’t want to waste time with schools that you are not interested in. I’m definitely weighing options. It’s a little tough during the season. You want to have an idea of where you are going just to get that stress over with, but it’s still been a fun process just talking to coaches. There are a ton of great people out there.”
While his current coach would also prefer to see Bradley have the decision in his rearview mirror, he thinks he is handling it all with maturity.
“He’s looking to take it to the next level, and he’s handling that pressure well,” said Weneck. “He wants to find a place where he can fit in. That’s important. You’re the paying customer.
“His style is going to translate well to the collegiate level, and I base that off of 40 years of experience. He is just the type of kid you are looking for to mature into a young man at the collegiate level.”
Ideal Captain
Whichever school lands Bradley’s services, it will be getting more than just a skilled wrestler who is on the rise.
He brings plenty of leadership acumen.
Bradley was a two-year middle school captain and is now in his second year as Cheltenham’s captain.
This doesn’t just mean yelling at his teammates. Bradley feels he can naturally blend leading by example with being vocal when needed.
“It’s a serious thing to me,” said Bradley. “I feel like I have always been a leader. When we do group projects, I feel like I’m the one stepping forward and leading the group. I was a two-year captain in middle school, too, in seventh and eighth grade. It’s something I’m used to. I lead warmups and stuff like that. It just feels right, and I like being in that role.
“If kids are in practice and walking instead of running a little bit, you can bark at them a little bit. I would say I’m both, really. I’m leading by example but also vocal.”
And while wrestling is an individual sport, he takes pride in the success of the team as a whole.
“Our team, my sophomore year, was 0-4 in the league,” he said. “Last year, going 5-0, it meant a lot of me, going to first from worst. Our team hasn’t really been great since the mid-90s, so that part really means a lot to me. We had five regional qualifiers for the first time. We had never had that many before. It just makes the sport more fun when everyone is having success.
“We have a lot of returning juniors and seniors from last year. I think we are returning about 85 percent of our wins. I think the sky is the limit. I’m excited to see how it pans out.”
The Road Ahead
Weneck sees a clear improvement in Bradley’s grappling skills, but warns that it won’t really show up as dramatically in net results.
“The leap this may not be as much, numerically,” said Weneck. “Last year, he went 32-8. To improve upon that, numerically, I don’t know. He could something like 36-4. He won’t be a dramatic jump in winning percentage. But, what you will see is changes in his tournament placements.”
It turns out that the 172 weight class is not only tough in the region, but has some terrors out in the western part of the state.
Weneck, though, is ruling out nothing.
The sky remains the limit.
“He really is capable of scoring points, being competitive and beating maybe all but one or two kids in the state,” said the coach. “There are a few kids at 172, at the other side of the state, who are just beating everyone to a pulp. They are a step ahead of everybody.
“It’s going to take a very high-level kid to beat Corey this year. His strength is solid, but his technique has really improved. Technique beats strength, any day of the week.”
Keeping It Simple
As for what he enjoys, it’s the simple things in life for Bradley.
Although he intends to major in exercise science and preaches proper nutrition to his teammates, he admittedly sneaks away with his dad, Paul, to test out cheese steaks in the region and keep a log of which satisfy their palate.
“I want to thank my family and my coaches but, definitely, my mom,” said Bradley. “She believes in me a ton.”
“I spend a lot of time with friends and family. We have a lot of animals. My mom (Elizabeth) is a dog trainer.”
“My parents are both very different but they are both very supportive.”
