For a time in South Fayette, wrestling was looked upon like a science experiment gone terribly wrong.

The school's varsity program disbanded following the 1998-99 season as interest waned.

This was puzzling in that South Fayette has been one of the fastest-growing communities in the state. Its elementary school is the only one of 115 districts in Allegheny County with more than 800 students.

Besides the enrollment, South Fayette's facilities are second to none with more expansion on the planning board.

There has been a sharp surge in housing starts.

Yet the school wrestling program withered and died.

More accurately, the wrestling program was folded into the Chartiers Valley program as a cooperative arrangement beginning with the 1999-2000 season.

Stick an asterisk next to this one, because, during the co-op with CV, there were precious few true South Fayette wrestlers on the CV squad that ever qualified for states.

Last December, the South Fayette wrestling faithful got the news that the district would once again have a varsity team, effective with the 2008-09 season.

The junior high wrestling program has carried the banner well in the recent past and has been the spark to ignite the varsity's rebirth.

Wrestling parent J.M. Manion said the junior high team took the energy from last year's news and immediately parlayed it into victories.

The team finished third in the Montour Junior High Duals in December 2007. This was the first wrestling trophy won by a South Fayette-only team since the co-op with CV went into effect.

Private donations and parent support kept the program afloat.

The school board had the option of either reinstating the program or forming a cooperative arrangement with Fort Cherry High School after the CV partnership ended.

District administrators projected that the 2005-06 program would have 12 varsity wrestlers and four junior high wrestlers. By 2010-11, the varsity program is projected to have 27 members -- a comparable figure to other high school programs.

The junior program has provided a solid foundation upon which to build a stable varsity program.

This year, the district qualified a record seven wrestlers for the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling (PJW) state championships that were held this past weekend in Erie.

Sixteen South Fayette wrestlers competed in the area finals at Plum.

Things are indeed looking up for a program that not so very long ago was as dead as Ralph Nader's presidential campaign.

"I'd like to wrestle next year on the junior high team at South Fayette - the green and white. I would prefer to wrestle for South Fayette, because I want to get a scholarship to Lehigh for wrestling, and I'd like to become an Olympic gold medalist when I'm older. That's one of my goals. Dr. Hippert and Mr. Farkas are the only ones who can recommend to the school board bringing South Fayette junior high and varsity wrestling teams back, and I'd like to have that."