Last year was as much about rebuilding the program infrastructure as it was competing. The Tide finished fifth in Division I last year, breaking a streak of six straight D-I runner-up finishes, but Concord High School wrestling head coach Ham Munnell enters his 27th season coming off an incredibly busy offseason.
Additional wrestling opportunities that were vital to Concord’s growth and success were temporarily suspended due to the pandemic, but Munnell’s offseason tasks – a spring and fall wrestling club, spring tournaments and the summer Crimson Tide Wrestling Camp, plus a robust middle school and youth program – are back in full swing and the Tide are already seeing the effects.
Out of the 46 wrestlers on Concord’s roster, 24 of them are freshman and 10 are sophomores, giving Munnell plenty of new blood to regrow the program.
“We want to get better,” Munnell said. “We’re definitely raw. We have some good kids. We want to reestablish the culture.”
It’s not a totally new group, however. Senior co-captain Rumi Mistry is one of six returning wrestlers who competed in the D-I championship meet, while fellow senior co-captain Austin Wells and classmate Nate Feudner also return a lot of varsity experience.
Junior Traevon Ling is last year’s top returner from the D-I championship, finishing third at 113 pounds and coming in fifth in that class at Meet of Champions.
Ling will anchor the lower weight classes, with newcomers Cullen Burke (sophomore), Jaxon Carter (freshman) and Cody Haskell (freshman) also potentially filling in some of the lighter weights.
Sophomore Sawyer McCready and junior Levi Madison (who qualified for MOC by finishing sixth in D-I) competed at states last year and will fill in the middle of the lineup at 132 and 138 pounds, respectively, with returning junior Griffin Norwalt in that mix as well.
The heaviest weight classes look to be Concord’s strongest part of the lineup at the outset, with seniors Mistry (182 pounds), Noah Blake (196), Wells (220) and Feudner (285) giving the Tide formidable strength in those divisions.
Make no mistake, the Tide are here to compete and compete hard. But just as important to the coaching staff is reestablishing the culture. Captains Mistry and Wells are among the very few grapplers who were on the team pre-COVID, and even then, they didn’t get to experience everything in a rookie campaign that just got in under the wire of the pandemic starting.
“They’re good,” Munnell said, referring to his captains. “There’s a lot of things they haven’t done. (For example) we’re doing an overnight at the Lowell Holiday Tournament. But they know that there’s a high bar and they know that’s what we’re trying to get to.”
That rebuilding doesn’t fall entirely on the captains and veterans though.
“I’m lucky to have my coaches,” Munnell said, referring to the dozen or so others who play key roles in Concord wrestling’s infrastructure.
Nick Zeras, Dan Breen, Troy Colby, George Tarwo and Bob Daniels all assist with the high school team, while Steve Shippos, Mark Fiegl, Tommy Sargent, Jack Sargent and Peter Sargent coach the Rundlett Middle School team.
Shawn Moseley and Jesse Camacho spearhead a new grade K-5 youth program.
It will take everyone to get the Tide where it used to be, at the top of D-I with seven-time defending champs Timberlane.
“The kids are looking forward to the challenge,” Munnell said. “We feel good about our kids. They need to work hard, we need to coach hard.”
Concord and the rest of the capital area wrestling teams open on Wednesday night.
The Tide will take on Pinkerton in Derry in a dual match. Bow will travel to Kearsarge in a match that also includes Kingswood, while both John Stark and Winnisquam will take on Newport on the road.
Previews of the other area wrestling teams are below.
Division: III
Coach: Bill Chavanelle (1st year)
Last year: 3rd
Returning starters: Adler Moura, jr., 120; Jackson Hall, so., 170/182; Danni Naglie, so., 113; Joe McDowell, jr., 170; Ben McDowell, jr., 152; Nick Wray, sr., 145; Jonah Pinard, so., 195/220
Top newcomers: Hollis Jones, sr., 195/220; Josiah Funches, jr., 152/160; Jared Dolder, jr., 138; Chase Flagg, fr., 170
Outlook: The Falcons return all seven wrestlers from last year’s team and 10 new grapplers have joined Bow’s ranks. Moura is the defending D-III champ at 120, while Joe McDowell finished second at 160, Ben McDowell finished third at 138 and Wray finished second at 145. Moura went on to finish second and Wray finished sixth in their respective classes at Meet of Champions.
“We have a good group of guys that are ready to work hard and compete,” Chavanelle said.
Teams to beat: Plymouth, Lebanon, Winnisquam, John Stark
Division: III
Coach: Zach Feudner (2nd year)
Last year: 9th
Returning starters: Stephen Johnston, sr., 170; Lukas Boulanger, jr., 220; Caleb Hauptman, jr., 126; Alex Descoteau, so., 220
Outlook: The Generals only had three wrestlers on the roster at this time a year ago and four competed at the D-III championship meet. Those four did exceptionally well, with Boulanger winning the D-III title at 182 pounds, Hauptman finishing second at 113 and Johnston finishing second at 195. All four of last year’s grapplers are back and John Stark’s roster size has swelled to 18 strong and counting.
“Last year I had to say that the team was in a rebuilding year. This is hopefully the last time we will have to say that,” Feudner said. “The numbers are higher than we have seen in years. The athletes have all bought in and are working hard early in the season. We had almost full showings at our preseason workouts and we’re working hard. We strive to make a splash in the division, despite the experience level. Not a ton of wrestling experience comes into the season (from the newcomers), but we have a lot of awesome athletes who have been working hard. Most of the team are newcomers, but they all have a couple of years left with the team.”
Teams to beat: Plymouth, Lebanon
Division: III
Coach: Reilly Moskalenko (1st year)
Last year: 10th
Returning starters: Dylan Selby, sr., 152; Kaleb Mattice, sr., 132
Top newcomers: Justin St. Onge, fr., 126; Jonah Morrill, fr., 113; Gage Richard, fr., 138
Outlook: Selby finished third at 145 in D-III last year and Mattice also competed at states, but that’s about as far as Kearsarge’s experience gets.
“We have a really young team,” said Moskalenko, who is taking over as the program’s head coach. “We’re looking to build and expand our team for the future.”
Teams to beat: “Plymouth is always a tough team to go against, as well as Bow. Both teams are well-rounded,” Moskalenko said.
Division: III
Coach: Tom Osmer (6th year)
Last year: D-III runner-up
Returning starters: Ryan Cormier, so., 113; Aemon Gauthier, so., 120; Henry Osmer, jr., 145; Victor Pham, so., 160; Carter LaLiberte, so., 126; Colby Chase, sr., 152; Luke Cote, so., 170
Outlook: Gauthier (last year’s 113-pound D-III champion, sixth at Meet of Champions), Osmer (second at 126), Cormier (third at 106) and Pham (third at 152) all return, giving the Bears lots of talent and depth in the lower and middle weights, but Winnisquam lacks bodies in the upper weights (182, 195 and 285). Still, the Bears enter the 50th year of their program with good turnout and a larger roster coming off of last year’s season, the best in program history.
“Many new and inexperienced wrestlers,” coach Osmer said. “We will work hard to get everyone up to speed and into match shape. Hopefully the healthy number of practice partners and competition for starting jobs will accelerate the development of our newcomers. I’m also excited for our small handful of experienced wrestlers. They have been working hard in the offseason: weight lifting, playing other sports, attending wrestling camps, etc. They are definitely excited to get going and into some competitions. Should be fun to watch this team grow throughout the season.”