By Kary Booher (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
When Garrett Hawkins took over the Branson High School wrestling program before last season, he couldn’t get wait to get started.
And, for his first year in town, it went well as the Pirates won 15 of 18 duals, qualified five wrestlers for the Class 3 state tournament, with one placing third, and saw four earn All-Central Ozark Conference honors.
However, only one qualifier is returning, a situation that leads to this natural question: Is Hawkins concerned?
Yeah, right.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Hawkins said. “We’ll be young, but that doesn’t mean we won’t compete. We have some pretty good sophomores and juniors.”
More on those sophs and juniors in a minute.
One potential centerpiece is Skyler Harris, one of the team’s only two seniors. He is a three-time state qualifier.
“He was pretty close” to earning a medal, Hawkins said. “I would like him to be right there in the middle of it this season. (This fall), he played soccer, so he’s getting his workouts in. And that’s what I like about Skyler. He’s a three-sport athlete.”
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The other senior is Cameron Bunting, who will wrestle in the 285-pound weight class.
Juniors on the team include James Miller (138), Alex Maldanodo (152), Collin Andrews (11), Cameron Bunting (195) and Servero Vargas (285).
The Pirates have numerous sophomores in Christian Cartwright and Leif Peirson competing at 106, Colton Chrisman (113), Quan Vo and Gage Curtis at 126, Caden Lorez (132), Austin Hadaller (138), Nick Halliburton (145), Max Petruccelli (152) and Tavaney Richards (170).
Lorenz was an All-COC last year and was two seconds from qualifying for the state tournament.
“The 106-pound weight class was stacked in our district,” Hawkins said. “But from the beginning of his freshman year to the end of his freshman year, he improved tremendously. He’s one of the guys who worked hard all through the offseason.”
Andrews is a returning varsity letterman who wrestled up to 170 last year.
“He should be one of the guys who should step up,” Hawkins said. “Last year he was kind of in a tough spot behind (152-pound) Hunter Holderfield. So he’s kind of bided his time. He’s one of the guys who did what has to do to help the team out. And now I think he’s going to be able to handle wrestling guys his size.”
Overall, there are opportunities for anyone in the room to take on the leadership role. Gone are state qualifiers Jake Ullrich, Holderfield, Isaiah Wittmer and David Stacey. Ullrich placed third in the 145-pound weight class last year.
“I feel like we have a pretty good, solid group of guys,” said Hawkins, who previously coached at Parkview High School. “In fact, we may have better numbers than what we ended with last year.”
