Members of the Monarch boys wrestling team are from left, front row, Ben Bickerstaff, Erryl Will, Jack Golla, Josh Melms, Lincoln Witt, Joe Eley, Emilo Guerrero, Riley Miller and Andrew Bentz; second row, Colton Powers, Brady Seger, Gage Riley, Ethan Skiles, Ethan Heckel, Boston Burkhardt, PJ Patterson and Joseph Bates; third row, Stephen Garcia, Carson Overbey, Blaze Hall, Zach Pfarr, Zach Cooper, Nathan Delauter, Jullian Kennedy, Michael Bates and Gage Counts; fourth row, Ryan Stalk, Erik Nelson, Alton Dobyns, Evan Jenkins, Jagger Hicks and Matt Eley; fifth row, coach Curtis Thompson, coach Tim Crane, Jarrod Shock, Eli Helmuth, Zach Strahm, Cole Clarridge, head coach Shawn Andrews, coach James Stoddart and coach Quinton Cooperider. Not pictured, coaches Austin Pfarr, Ethan Smegal and Derek Sharp. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
The Monarch wrestling squad will look to defend its Ohio Capital Conference Cardinal Division championship from a year ago.
The Monarchs ran the table through five OCC matches to take first place.
The 2021-22 MHS squad has a number of lettermen returning to the roster.
They are as follows (weight classes are subject to change):
-106/113: Ethan Skiles;
-113: Gage Riley;
-120: Joe Eley;
-126 Zach Pfarr and Emilio Guerrero;
-132: Pfarr and Guerrero;
-138: Lincoln Witt;
-144/150: Riley Miller;
-150: Jack Golla;
-157: Josh Melms;
-165: Erryl Will;
-175: Colton Powers;
-190: Ben Bickerstaff and Brady Seger;
-215: Stephen Garcia.
Newcomers to the varsity roster are as follows:
-120: Jullian Kennedy;
-126: Boston Burkhardt;
-144: Carson Overbey;
-165/175: Carson Mize;
-175 Alton Dobyns;
-285: Andrew Howard and Andrew Bentz.
Among the strengths of the team is the number of returning upperclassmen, which includes nine seniors and seven juniors.
One of the main focuses of any mat coach early in the season is to get athletes in the proper weight classes.
“We’re also returning to multi-team and day events,” said MHS head coach Shawn Andrews. “Last year’s season looked very different than any year I have ever been a part of.
“We want to make sure we are prepared to compete in a traditional schedule.”
The Monarchs’ first goal of any season is to claim top honors in the OCC divisional race.
“Based on our returning wrestlers we should be in contention for a league title,” said Andrews.
Other goals are to advance to the final eight of the state duals and to qualify each weight class (14) to the district tournament.
The Monarchs placed second to Dublin Coffman during the 2020-21 district tournament and Olentangy Libety was just a half-point behind in third place.
“I would expect it to be a competition between those three teams at the district level with teams like Teays Valley, Westerville North, Upper Arlington and Lancaster in the mix as well,” said Andrews.
“Some of those benchmarks are pretty far away, so we will use events like the SWOWCA Coaches Classic, Brecksville and Top Gun as measuring sticks throughout the year to gauge where we are as a team.”