By BUTCH HARMON
During the 1980s and 1990s, Eaton Rapids was home of one of the premier Division 2/Class B wrestling teams in the state. Under coach Joe Ray Barry, the Greyhounds are working their way back up the ladder.
Barry, a former Mason High School star and wrestler at Central Michigan University, is in his third year as head coach of the Greyhounds and has the program headed in the right direction. Heading down the stretch of the season, Eaton Rapids has a 23-8 record and is gearing up to make a run at the team state finals.
“We’ve been having a good season,” Barry said. “We have been a pretty young team the last couple of years, and we are still pretty young. We just have one senior right now.”
The Greyhounds are thin on numbers but have plenty of talent, led by junior Jaedin Sklapsky, who has a 32-1 record and is ranked No. 1 in the state at 130 pounds. Sophomore Lane McVickey started the season with a 17-2 mark and is ranked fifth in the state at 135 pounds. Isaac Coolidge (103 pounds), Austin Eldred (119), Austen Hutchison (125), Blaine Milheim (145), and Triston Warner (215) have all won over 20 matches this season.
“We have beaten some good teams this year,” Barry said. “We beat Greenville 37-33, and we lost a couple of real close duals to Holt and Tecumseh. We are basically filling only nine of the 14 weight classes, so we are starting each match about 24 points down.”
Despite the low numbers, the Greyhounds have some lofty goals. “We’re looking to make a run at the state tournament this year,” Barry said. “We have a good junior class and a good sophomore class. We face Charlotte in our district, and we know that is not going to be an easy task by any means, but it’s something we are capable of.”
Eaton Rapids and Charlotte have picked up the intensity of their rivalry this year, both on the mat and the football field.
“We faced Charlotte in our first football playoff game, and we had to get past them there,” Barry said. “Ten of my wrestlers were on the football team, and all ten of them were on the field.”
Barry likes the progress being made in the wrestling program as it works to get back to the level it was over 15 years ago. Eaton Rapids won Division 2 state titles in 1999 and 1997 and Class B state titles in 1993, 1991, and three consecutive titles from 1985 through 1987.
“We’ve had a lot of good coaches, and those are definitely some big shoes to fill,” Barry said. “The program was real strong in the late 80s and the 90s, and we can get there again. We got the community behind us, and their support for wrestling is big for our success.”