Stratford’s Nico Provo has changed his mind and will attend Stanford University. (Photo courtesy Nico Provo via Instagram)
Stratford’s Nico Provo, who won a pair of national tournaments in a two-week span in April, has changed his mind about college and will attend Stanford University.
Provo had previously committed to Cornell University in the fall of 2019. But when Cornell’s head coach Rob Koll was named head coach at Stanford in June, Provo reconsidered.
“This was a tough decision every step of the way but since the fall of 2019 many things have changed,” Provo wrote on his Instagram account. “With Stanford’s renewed commit to wrestling along with a new coaching staff, I’ve decided it’s best for me to further my academic and athletic career at Stanford.”
Wrestling was nearly eliminated at Stanford along with 10 other varsity sports before a decision by the school reversed that decision in May. Krall was hired in June after the program’s previous head coach Jason Borrelli left for American University in early April.
Stanford initially announced the elimination of wrestling and the 10 other varsity sports in July 2020.
Provo will begin classes in the fall but won’t be placed on the Stanford team roster until the fall of 2022, he said in a release from Greens Farms Academy, where he graduated from in June.
“Coach Koll recruited me and I was really close to him,” Provo said in the GFA release. “He cares about you as a person. It’s not just about wrestling with him.”
In April, Provo won the National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) Senior National championship at 126 pounds and two weeks later, he won the Prep School national championship for Greens Farms at 120 pounds.
The Greens Farms Academy graduate earned All-American honors in a national tournament for the third time in the last four months at the USA Wrestling Junior Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota and was also named the Dave Schultz Award winner in Connecticut in July by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
The award is presented annually to a high school senior based on outstanding wrestling success, scholastic achievement and citizenship and/or community service.
