As the Whitman wrestling team faced defeat against the Old Mill Patriots during the 2008 dual-meet state semi-finals, they were stuck in the same position for a second consecutive year. This season, the returning wrestlers are determined to avenge their two previous state semi-final defeats.

“I think our goal is to win a state title,” Coach Derek Manon says, “Anything short of that is not really on the path to our ultimate goal.”

Last season, the Vikes only lost two meets, won the Mad Mats tournament and sent ten wrestlers to the state tournament, five of them placing.

Although the team lost captains and state placers Eric Beverly, Steven Fisher and Aaron Norris, Manon believes the wrestlers replacing them will fill the gap. The Vikes will move many wrestlers up to varsity to fill in for the previous captains. One hundred-thirty Eric Harder feels confident that the Vikes have the skill to compete at states again.

“We have a lot of guys replacing Beverly, Fisher and Norris,” Harder says. “We have Alex Hysong at 152, Ben D’Elia at 125, and returning state qualifiers Andrew Follman, Eric Harder, Danny Lee, Taylor Leighton, and Sawyer Symington.”

The Vikes also return Michael Harder who missed his entire sophomore season with an elbow injury. During his freshman year, he qualified for states and his return from injury will greatly benefit this year’s team

This year’s team is rather young, with only four starting seniors at the 135, 171, 189, and 215 weight classes. The middleweights of 130, 135, 140 and 145 pounders will be strong with the Harder brothers and Follman filling in those positions along with senior Jordan Tritell. Since the 103-pound weight class was weak last year, freshman Jacob Rosenblum must step up for the Vikes.

Two Hundred-Fifteen pounder Lee and 189 pounder Taylor Leighton both finished second in states last year in their respective weight classes. Leighton wants to improve at the MPSSAA tournament and win his first individual state championship.

“I was a state finalist last year,” Leighton says. “This year I want the title.”

Team wide, the wrestlers expect to break the curse at the dual-meet state tournament. For them, anything less is not good enough

“It’s a long season, we got a long way to go before February and March,” Manon says. “ But the guys have really set the tone early this year to compete.”