Prep Wrestling: Coaches wrestle with forecast

Steve Cunningham

Thursday, Dec. 4, 1997 | 9:46 a.m.

Wrestling is such a hard sport to handicap that few coaches will venture a guess on the record.

One team might be good enough to dominate in dual competitions but without standout wrestlers, could make little noise in the postseason. On the other hand, a team with three or four strong competitors could turn a nondescript regular season into a state tournament celebration.

The area high school season begins tonight and true to form, nobody will tab a favorite.

"I'd rather wait until January and see how things are going then," said Silverado coach Bob Clements. "I think there are three or four teams that look good now, but every single school in town has two or three good kids. You just won't know for a while how it's going to come together."

Clements' Skyhawks, fourth-place finishers at state the past two seasons, are tabbed by many as one of teams to watch based on their returnees. Mario Paladino was a state champ last year at 130 and is back for an encore. Heavyweight Joel Menendez finished third a year ago, Tom Cass was fourth at 145 but will wrestle this season at 171 and Kevin Riordan was sixth at 119.

Mike Bartholow (152), Darrel McDonald (189) and Jason Thompson (215) were state qualifiers, as well, and Silverado has added another threat in Yonas Woldu, who finished sixth at the Indiana state tournament last year and will wrestle at 125.

"Just because you have eight good kids, that's not enough," Clements said. "I think we'll win some dual meets and we're definitely in the top three in our division, but there are some holes we have to fill. If we can improve on what we did last year, I'll feel like I did my job and the kids did theirs."

Cimarron-Memorial had six athletes place at state last year -- taking second place behind Wooster -- and four of those return, including state champs Kendall Thacker (160) and Joe Parry (215). Jason McMahon (112) and Chris Harris (135) also brought home medals.

"Boy, I don't know if we can repeat (last year) or not," Cimarron coach Tim Jeffries said. "It's hard to say at this point. I think we'll be competitive ... we have enough kids back who have experience."

Cheyenne will be one of the teams to watch come tournament time. Five state qualifiers return: Robbie Ryan placed second at heavyweight, Bryon Grant was fourth at 125 and Sam Conte was fifth at 152. They were joined at state by Nat Spindler (119) and Jamie Serrano (160).

But the Desert Shields are thin after those five, said coach Mike McGuire.

"The rest of the team will be real green," he said. "Dual meets will be tough for us but the tournament should be better."

A pair of teams -- Basic and Bonanza -- suffered huge losses to graduation but have talented wrestlers back. Basic's Kevin Lochner finished third at 160 and Brian Ruegge (130) and Jordan Gunderson (215) advanced to state. The Bengals lost state champs Kevin Brown and Turner Graham but have Frank Mir, who took third at 215, returning. Bill Rainford (112) and Josh Levitt (119) could make some noise this season.

Green Valley, under veteran coach Jimmy May, should field a strong team this winter.