BUTLER TWP — In terms of wrestling, Butler senior Blake Caudill keeps reaching new heights.

And he’s still climbing.

One of only six Golden Tornado wrestlers to ever qualify for the state tournament and on pace to become the second winningest matman in school history, Caudill signed a letter of intent with Eastern Michigan University this week.

He becomes only the seventh Butler wrestler to receive a Division I scholarship.

“They saw me wrestle up there a couple of years ago and the coach asked for my transcripts,” Caudill said. “When I went to visit, I loved it. It felt like the best fit for me.”

A two-time section champion, Caudill takes a 93-20 career record into his senior season at Butler. He has 57 career pins and needs 26 wins to supplant Mike Crawford for the No. 2 spot on the Tornado’s all-time win list. Cole Baxter, a sophomore at Kent State, won 160 matches at Butler.

Caudill did not start wrestling until seventh grade. He credits Crawford, Baxter and others like them for developing his work ethic on the mat and in the practice room.

“You don’t know how I looked up to them,” he said. “Those guys never stopped. They kept going and going and going, always wanting to get better, always working toward that next step.”

Now Caudill is doing the same. He qualified for the state tourney last year and wants to win a state title this year. At Eastern Michigan, his goal is to become an NCAA Tournament qualifier and an All-American.

Eastern Michigan’s coach is former Slippery Rock University heavyweight Derek DelPorto, who was 116-38 at SRU and was an Eastern regional champion. The Hurons were 3-2 in the Mid American Conference last year, their first winning season in the MAC since 1991.

DelPorto recruited Caudill as a 133-pounder. Caudill wrestled at 113 pounds last season.

“The toughest weights to recruit are 125, 133 and heavyweight,” DelPorto said. “You don’t see many 22-year-old wrestlers still weighing 133 pounds or so.

“We’re planning to red-shirt Blake his freshman year. We’ll have to see how his body develops from there in terms of weight class, but we train all of our wrestlers to be ready to compete for a starting spot by that second year. If a kid’s not ready by then, we’re not doing our job.”

DelPorto said Caudill has two elements in his favor prior to his arrival at Eastern Michigan.

“He’s a Pennsylvania wrestler and he’s being coached by a former college wrestler,” DelPorto said. “He will benefit from both.”

Like DelPorto, Butler coach Scott Stoner is a former SRU wrerstler.

“Derek and I have developed a good working relationship,” Stoner said. “He’s got that (Eastern Michigan) program moving in the right direction.

“(Former SRU coach) Fred Powell has worked with Derek and he’s worked with our kids. Derek knows the kind of seasoning our kids are getting.”

Caudill will get further quality seasoning at Eastern Michigan. One of the Huron assistant coaches is Luke Smith, a four-time national qualifier at Central Michigan in the lighter weights. Smith was 117-2 and a two-time Wisconsin state champion in high school.

“He’s a great coach and I know he’ll take care of me. I’m going to learn a lot from him,” Caudill said.

Eastern Michigan sent four wrestlers to nationals last season for the first time since the 1995-96 season. DelPorto has sent 11 wrestlers to nationals in his first six years as head coach.

Carrying a 3.49 grade point average, Caudill plans to major in occupational therapy or sports science.

“It will be something in the medical field,” he said.

Caudill looked at the Air Force Academy and Edinboro before deciding on Eastern Michigan. Barring injury, he will become the seventh Butler wrestler to attain 100 career victories early this season.