Nate Schneider
Sports Scene
Everything for Alma wrestling was building toward this season.
Bolstered by the best roster number of 30 varsity wrestlers Panthers head coach Randy Miniard has had in his time with the program, there was plenty of reason to be optimistic as the winter approached.
Now a month-and-a-half into the campaign, Alma is getting it done on the mat.
The Panthers, ranked third in Division 3, most recently traveled to a tournament at Hudson on Jan. 20 and came away with four placers out of 10 wrestlers who made the trip. Nine out of 10 wrestlers won at least one match.
Greg Simmons (HWT) placed third and Alex Rosas was fourth while Nolan Rodriguez (103) and Justin VanBlaricum (152) each placed sixth.
Miniard is pleased with how the season has gone to date, with brighter days ahead as Alma continues to get healthier as several wrestlers have been absent for the lineup in order to be at peak condition as the postseason nears.
“We’re in pretty good shape at our district in Ithaca,” Miniard said. “We’ve seen Portland and beat them 48-26. We haven’t seen the other two teams, but should match up well. Obviously, anything can happen but we like our draw. And not to look ahead, but we like what we see in regionals too. Right now we’re just getting healthy and getting ourselves ready for what is in front of us.”
Alma won the Tri-Valley Conference Central with a perfect 7-0 record last season and are 4-0 in conference action this year.
“All our goals are still ahead of us and I’m satisfied with where we’re at,” Miniard remarked.
A lot of credit for the continued improvement and rising numbers at the varsity level goes to coaches at the lower levels of the Alma wrestling program, according to Miniard.
“It starts with my assistant coaches, Zip Widman and Jarod Hughes,” Miniard added. “It’s a testament of getting the right people in the right positions. Our middle school coach is Jaquine Castillo along with Matt Hoppe. And then our youth program is being spearheaded by Marty Wright, Adam Garcia, Adam Forist and others. They’re all doing a fantastic job in helping to build our program.”