Liberty drops D-I wrestling; Conaway's college search starts over
This month had been going so well for Jordan Conaway. It started a few weeks ago, when New Oxford's senior standout won a 112-pound, Class AAA state championship. Then, this past weekend, he beat the nation's top-ranked 112-pounder at the Dapper Dan Classic in Pittsburgh. And then, inexplicably, it all turned sour. On Tuesday afternoon, Liberty University -- the school Conaway committed to in November -- announced it had reclassified its wrestling program from Division to a club sport, effective immediately. The move means Jordan Conaway will now start his college search over, said his father, New Oxford coach Dave Conaway. "We've gotten some calls tonight and today. We're going to meet with some schools," Dave Conaway said. "Eventually, we're going to be signing somewhere else." Dave Conaway said the decision -- fueled by the school's attempt to comply with Title IX regulations -- came as a complete shock. "He's pretty disappointed," Dave Conaway said. "He wanted a Christian atmosphere, and he wanted to go to a Christian school. "I said 'You don't have to wrestle, you can still go down there.' 'He said I put all this time into wrestling. This is what I have to do." Dave Conaway said the restarted recruiting process should move fairly quickly. He declined to name any of the school's that Jordan plans to meet with. He did say that some of the schools interested are ones that hadn't recruited Conaway previously. "A lot of that has to do with what he did at the end of the season," Dave Conaway said. Jordan Conaway went 38-3 his senior season, becoming New Oxford's all-time leader in wins. He won the school's first state championship on March 12, earning a 10-4 decision against Canon-McMillan's Connor Schram in the final.