Providence may not have the biggest wrestling program around, but this could be the year that the Pioneers could be said to be the baddest.

A school-record seven Providence grapplers advanced to the semistate last season. But here’s the kicker — five of them are back.

Big names abound on the Pioneer roster, highlighted by Ethan Cook — among the state’s leading running backs during football season — who returns from a season in which he advanced all the way to state and will wrestle in either the 189- or 215-pound weight class.

Joining the senior will be classmates Kevin Mooney, slated to take the mat at 112 or 125 and defending regional champion Omar Salguero. Also back in the fold are junior Jacob Golembeski, the state’s leading tackler as a linebacker for the Pioneers’ football team, and Cody Davidson, as grapplers who made big postseason runs.

“Obviously, we’re going to try to get back at least to semistate,” said Pioneer coach Phil Cook. “There are three of four that can go as far as state if things fall right.”

Athletes like Steven Meyer and Ben Hughes — who fell in the regionals last season — further bolster the impressive roster, while a big freshman class will study under their accomplished teammates to prepare for the future.

“The big surprise is how many freshmen we have,” Cook said. “The older kids are going to have to be the role models helping out. Our junior-high team has gotten built back up.”

Team-wise, Cook feels the Pioneers may be too young to compete with the likes of Floyd Central and Jeffersonville, which he names as the area’s teams to beat this campaign.

But that doesn’t mean that his charges won’t find themselves on the medal stands as the postseason field grows thinner.

“As a team, we’re probably too young to compete,” Cook said. “As long as we stay healthy, we could repeat with six or seven (at semistate). For the sectional, we could definitely have a couple of kids step up and surprise some people.”



NEW ALBANY

With six seniors departed to graduation, including four state qualifiers, Bulldog coach Eric Burres is laying down the most dreaded term in sports before this season.

“This year will be a rebuilding year,” said Burres. “We’re awful young — it’s definitely a learning year for a lot of these kids.”

It wasn’t going to be easy to replace J.T. Jenkins, Ivan Rodriguez, Nick Oxley or Brent Kaelin, but that’s exactly the position in which Burres finds himself.

To do it, he’ll rely on Ivan’s brother, Nestor Rodriguez, a senior who will move up to the varsity this season.

“He’s been behind guys like Kirk Moore and Nick Oxley,” said Burres of Rodriguez. “Those are tough kids to get past in the lineup, but he’ll be bumped up this year.”

Tim Martin, a semistate qualifier at 119 a year ago, will also return, along with Jonathan Gary, a regional qualifier during last year’s campaign, to make up the three biggest names for retooled New Albany.

The rest? That remains to be seen.

“There’s a lot of learning, but at the same time it’s a lot of fun,” Burres said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun watching these kids get better each week.”



FLOYD CENTRAL

Changes have come for the Highlanders. But if rivals think that the program will be hurting for solid athletes, they’ll likely be surprised by a lineup that includes an amazing 12 seniors.

The biggest loss comes in the form of 171-pound state champion Cooper Samuels, a two-time state titleist, along with a new coach in Brandon Sisson, who steps in for departed mentor Rob Willman.

Sisson, a 1999 Floyd Central graduate and assistant under Willman for five seasons, is obviously ready to take the reigns of one of the area’s most feared mat machines.

“It’s been an eye-opening experience to learn it all,” said Sisson, who has been in the program in some capacity since kindergarten. “It has made me respect all that Rob had to do. There hasn’t been a big dramatic change. Of course, there are little things I want to do, but at the same time I think we’ve shown that what we have done works.”

There’s no doubt about that, as Samuels wasn’t the only success story of late for Floyd. The regional champions as a team, it’s because of the past that this year’s team could be looking at a bright future.

“The guys that are coming back have been wrestling behind some of the best guys to ever come through our school,” Sisson said. “Not a lot of people realize that these guys could be very good because of some of the guys who’ve come before them.”

While others who went deep in the postseason — like Eric Luckett and Jeremiah Faulkenburg, both semistate qualifiers — are gone, more than a few have returned.

Garrett Blackman, a semistate qualifier at 152, heads a long list of talent that also includes Logan Kelley, Ian Emerson and Daniel Murphy.

It’s almost an embarrassment of riches when it comes to experience, especially with a seven-man freshman class.

“Some of those seniors still won’t make the lineup,” Sisson said. “We hope some of (the freshmen) take their lumps early and learn from their mistakes to play a big role later.”



JEFFERSONVILLE

The Red Devils have big expectations for this season, and their schedule is the most obvious reflection.

Of the top-25 teams on the state’s first wrestling poll, Jeff will tangle with 16 of them over the course of the year, including No. 2 Perry Meridian and No. 3 Evansville Mater Dei. That doesn’t include matchups with Kentucky state champion Trinity and Hold, the state champions of Michigan. The Red Devils were 13th among schools also receiving votes in the Indiana poll.

That means the goal is simple — a state championship.

“This team believes in the goal (of state champs), but that is only a goal,” said Jeff coach Danny Struck. “Their purpose is to be the best they can be and help the other guys on the team by the best people they can be.”

It’s hard to argue that the personnel isn’t in place for a big postseason, and the Devils are loaded in every weight class.

Curtis Smith, a two-time regional champion, will hold down the 112 class, while five-time women’s state champ Becky Cissel will be back at 125.

Caleb Browner, a surprise semistate qualifier last season, well surprise no one this season as he takes a run at state at 171, while Tyler Tatgenhorst, a two-time semistate qualifier, will also be gunning for a state crown at 189.

In the heavyweight class, senior John Clark spent the season traveling the nation to compete in tournaments and will also be a contender for a state title.

Overall, Jeff will start 12 upperclassmen, while only a single sophomore (Darien Tatgenhorst at 125) and freshman Alonzo Shepherd (at 103) will crack the lineup.

It’s a tantalizing group, and Struck is understandably eager to get started.

“The team is more talented than any team I have ever coached,” he said. “They have state, national and international experience. The question is, can they push to achieve their potential or will they take their talents for granted? We hope they appreciate what they have been given and work hard to achieve that potential.”



NEW WASHINGTON

The Mustang program keeps plugging away, and will likely put a lot of the responsibility on the shoulders of junior Josh Sampson, back after a 30-4 junior season.

“He has high individual goals,” said New Wash coach Jeremy Campbell. “We’re not going to stop until he makes it to state.”

New Washington has never been known for its strong numbers. But the Class A school thinks it can fill at least nine weight classes with quality competition, and Campbell says the middle school programs are starting to pay off with big dividends.

Among them will be freshman Aaron Dean, a successful grappler prior to reaching high school, who Campbell will look to in the 152-160 classes after his transition to a high school program.

A strong sophomore class in heavyweight sophomore James Adams and Lane Massingham will add both depth and, hopefully, victories.

It all adds up to another season where Campbell hopes his team takes the necessary steps in staying competitive with more established programs. The key there, he says, is patience.

“What we lack in numbers, we make up in hard work,” he said. “It’s been very positive and upbeat at practice.

“We should be able to fill 9-10 weight classes. Our No. 1 goal is to be competitive in all those classes, and we feel that goal is within reach.”



CHARLESTOWN

The Pirate program has been a consistent success under coach Tom Kendrick, and this season is set up well to continue the momentum.

Three semistate qualifiers headline the list of returnees. Two of them, seniors Eddie Duran and Aaron May, took home regional championships last year, while Duran barely lost in a chance to place at state. Junior Jeff Stotridge also made last season’s semistate, narrowly missing a state bid of his own.

“We’ve had a very good run (in the past), and I expect that to continue,” said Kendrick. “We may start slow. It’s one of those teams that if we wrestle like last year, we’ll be happy. At the end of the year, we were wrestling our best.”

Sophomore Logan McCutcheon, a Mid-Southern Conference champion and regional qualifier last year, will join more veteran talent in juniors Mark Doherty and Tyler Newcomb and sophomore Brad Smith. A seven-deep freshman class also comes aboard to swell the program’s numbers to 24.

For that, Kendrick continues to look for more talent in the hallways of Charlestown High School, particularly in the smaller weight classes.

“We’ve got to get 14 guys into 14 spots, so the best 14 guys may have trouble finding spots,” he said. “We need some little guys to join up. As a 3A high school, we’ve got a team walking the hallway that, if you put them into a lineup, you could put some pressure on the team we have.”