Friday, Nov. 14, 2008

Wrestlers Ready to Hit the Mats

Online Exclusive

By John English

Contributing Writer

As the Flower Mound wrestling team heads into the 2008-2009 season, coach Steven Davis said he has a couple of objectives in mind that he believes the Jaguars team is more than capable of accomplishing.

Flower Mound won a district championship last season, and Davis said he feels pretty solid from top to bottom once again.

“We expect to pick up where we left off last season,” Davis said. “We have a good corps of seniors coming back with some degree in of experience, so we're anticipating a good year.”

Flower Mound looks to have a number of strong returners to this year's team that Davis believes should have very strong seasons.

“We've got two state qualifiers returning,” Davis said. “We've got Anthony Fortier, who will be back at 112 and Jack Novack, who will probably start the season at 215. He was 189 last year, and we kind of look for him to move back down, but we're not real sure yet.”

Austin Riddle, a state alternate from 2007-2008, is also expected to have a strong year at 119 or 125 pounds.

Davis said he has a couple of goals for his team this season.

“We want t a top five finish at the state duals,” Davis said. “We also want a top 10 finish at the state tournament, and of course, we would love to repeat as district champions.”

If Flower Mound does win a district championship, it would make the third year in a row it has done so as a team.

The Jaguars wrestling team would have to get through Marcus in order to accomplish that goal, and the Marauders look like they could make some noise in district this year as well.

Marcus will be led by three-year state qualifier Tyler Lee this season, who actually won a state championship at 140 pounds over Bobby Barney of Austin Anderson last school year.

Andrew Watson, a state qualifier from last year who finished fifth at state has graduated, but heavyweight Cameron Hickey, who advanced to state last year and finished sixth, will also be back for the coming season.

Both Lee and Hickey enter the season as the top-ranked wrestlers in their respective classes in the state.

Marcus will compete in the Keller Six Way on Nov. 15 at Keller High School and Flower Mound will compete on the same day at the Warrior Invitational at Arlington Martin High School.