Birch Run has lost six all-state wrestlers to graduation the past two years. Nine seniors that graduated last year qualified for the state finals, and four of them placed at the state meet.
“We’re young, so we’re having some growing pains right now,” coach Bart Bennett said. “And I’ve never quite had a season where we’ve had so much sicknesses. So we’ve been trying to get healthy, and we just deal with.”
The Panthers have dealt with the issue by winning. By mid-January they had posted a 17-2 record in dual meets and had already clinched a fourth-straight share of the Tri-Valley Conference – East title.
“Luckily, we’re deep enough squad where we’ve been able to substitute in and move guys around,” Bennett said. “TVC – East was our first goal. Now we want the Conference meet, districts, and regionals.”
He has a couple talented seniors leading the way. Mitch Franklin finished seventh at 145 pounds at state last year and has wrestled at 152 this season. Jared Elliott dropped a 9-6 decision in the Division 3 152-pound state title match to Comstock Park’s Luke Pahl. He couldn’t crack the starting lineup as a freshman and lost in the blood round at regionals as a sophomore.
“Jared probably shouldn’t have lost [to Pahl]. He got caught on his back and it cost him,” Bennett said. “We’re working on eliminating those. Jared is a talented kid, and he’s worked hard. Some of his toughest matches have been in practice against guys like three-time all-staters Lake [Bennett] and Damian [Johnson].”
Junior Jerry Fenner is back to defend the 119-pound state title that he won last year by a 3-2 fourth overtime decision over Swan Valley freshman Matt Santos. Fenner has lost four times this year – three times to defending state champions and once to Santos at the Saginaw County Wrestling Meet.
“He can learn from that,” Bennett said. “We’ll move him up a weight class and try to get him the best matches we can as we prepare for districts.”
Elliott, Fenner, and Franklin are all near 150 career wins, while junior 215-pounder George Lahar is near 100 career victories.