By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
The first wrestling meets of the season involving Hamilton County teams get underway on Saturday, including a big meet at the Husky Dome.
Hamilton Heights will host its annual Super 6, and the Huskies will look to defend its home turf with a team that’s young but more experienced than meets the eye. Noblesville will also compete at the Super 6, with a new coach.
Michael Weimer is taking over the Millers, after a highly successful 10-year run by Tom Knotts. Weimer is familiar to the area, as he was an assistant coach at Westfield, Lawrence North and Carmel, plus a head coach at John Hardin High School in Hardin, Ky.
“I am very excited for this opportunity to lead this great group of young men,” said Weimer. “Our student athletes, have been working extremely hard over the summer and preseason preparing for the 2017-2018 Wrestling season. There is a great deal of excitement surrounding the program and the kids are hungry to compete.”
Noblesville’s returning wrestlers include a handful of regional qualifiers from last season. One is a sectional champion: Junior Dalton Huffman won the Elwood sectional at 120 pounds last year; this year he is moving up a class to 126 pounds.
Other returning regional qualifiers are junior Gary Kitko, who moves up from 132 to 138, junior Zakary Knoll, who stays at 170, and junior Sam Wertz at 285. Senior Michael Storey also returns, he was sixth at the sectional at 145 pounds and jumps to 160 this season.
As for the Huskies, several young wrestlers made in impact last year as freshmen. Cordel Cowan and Aiden Ray were regional qualifiers, while Bobby Williams, Luke Stohler and Alex Naylor also placed. Junior Dreiken Dunn placed at the sectional as well.
The freshmen class are sophomores now, and had a good summer tournament season as well. Other sophomores are Trevor Cunningham and Caleb Jones, with Noah Lawson back as a junior. Freshmen to look out for include Cooper Mansfield and Devoe Henson.
Meanwhile, Fishers will begin its season Saturday at the Western Invitational. The Tigers also have a new coach, Jason Cook.
Fishers will compete in four dual meets at Western. The Tigers’ line-up will be led by seniors Alexander Strueder and Teegan Heiniger, who Cook said “have pushed themselves and their teammates forward in terms of work ethic and selfless acts including organizing a food drive during our wrestle-offs last weekend.
“We look forward to competing against Western, as the Shephards always prepare tough, savvy teams,” said Cook. “I am looking forward most to our upper weights beginning to battle for team points and our lower and middle weights creating a team identity defined by toughness and constant movement–both on the mat and towards our goals.”
Strueder was a semi-state qualifier last year at 126 pounds; this year he will wrestler at 138. Heiniger is competing at 160 this season, same as last season. Other Tigers returning from last year’s sectional line-up are sophomore PJ Pritchett and junior Truman Abel. Pritchett remains at 106, while Abel moves up a class to 126.
“Fortunately, several football players were unavailable due to the great win against Pike allowing them to play the impressive Ben Davis team last Friday,” said Cook. “Fishers cross country teams also had inspiring seasons and are the programs we appreciate having as an example for our future success.”
Strueder was a semi-state qualifier last year at 126 pounds; this year he will wrestler at 138. Heiniger is competing at 160 this season, same as last season. Other Tigers returning from last year’s sectional line-up are sophomore PJ Pritchett and junior Truman Abel. Pritchett remains at 106, while Abel moves up a class to 126.
“Fortunately, several football players were unavailable due to the great win against Pike allowing them to play the impressive Ben Davis team last Friday,” said Cook. “Fishers cross country teams also had inspiring seasons and are the programs we appreciate having as an example for our future success.”
Other county teams competing on Saturday include Hamilton Southeastern at the John Hurrle Invitational at Scecina and Westfield at the Circle City Classic in Beech Grove.
Noblesville’s Dalton Huffman won a sectional championship last season at 120 pounds. This year, the junior is wrestling at 126 and is one of four regional qualifiers returning for the Millers. (Kent Graham/File photo)