Friday, Nov. 14, 2008

Athletes Ready to Hit the Mats

Wrestling Preview

By John English

Contributing Writer

With two state champions between them heading into the 2008-2009 season, the Grapevine and Colleyville Heritage wrestling teams appear to be even stronger than last year.

Grapevine coach Albert Lujan said that he has a strong corps of wrestlers to lead the team this year and that it has a good chance at capturing a district championship.

"My kids are working hard," Lujan said. "We’re trying to get everything together."

Lujan said that a number of his wrestlers should likely enjoy a strong season.

"We have quite a few kids that are going to be ranked this year," Lujan said. "We have three state qualifiers and a regional qualifier that are returning this year. We also have a pretty good heavy weight, so we have about five really top-notch kids."

Joe Andrews, last year’s 103-pound state champion, comes into the season as the top-ranked wrestler in that class, but will likely wrestle at 112 this season.

Zach Balod, a state alternate last year, is ranked No. 13 in state at 125 pounds, while Chase Covington, who finished in the top eight at state last season, enters this year ranked third in the 145 class.

Cody Grandstaff, a regional qualifier last season, and Evan Perry at heavyweight should have good seasons as well.

"Our goals are to be consistent," Lujan said. "This team has created some high expectations for themselves this year. We always want to win a district title and place in the top five at regionals and have a good showing at state. … We want to build on what we did last year."

At Colleyville Heritage, coach David Traver also feels good about his team, saying he believes that he has several wrestlers who could get out of district.

"I’ve got like five or six guys that have quite a bit of experience," Traver said. "They are going to be the corps of our team, and our younger wrestlers are coming along pretty well."

The big story for the Panthers wrestling team this season is Jeremy Sandoval, who has the opportunity to become the first wrestler since the sport became UIL-sanctioned in 1999 to win four consecutive state championships.

Traver said he is also expecting Jacob Endert at 130 and Chase Barlow at either 160 or 171 to have strong seasons for the Panthers wrestling team. Adam Courtney is a returning regional qualifier and is expected to have another strong campaign at 103 or 112.

Sandoval will likely wrestle at 135 or 140 for the coming season.

"We just have to see how everything shakes down first with other schools," Traver said. "We want individuals to finish as high as they can. I would like to see probably five or six guys make it down to regionals, and out of those, maybe four of them make it down to the state tournament."

Grapevine and Colleyville Heritage both open the season at the Warrior Classic, scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Saturday at Arlington Martin High School.