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Wrestling Seniors — Front row, from left: Nick Romig, RJ Hoyt, Seth Dillman, Blake Moler. Back row: Ryan Delforge, Brendan Flores, Tom Adams, Coby Carter, Bryton Howard.


Hornets expect big year with top wrestlers returning
By Taylor Messick
Last Updated: December 03, 2015

After finding success with one of its youngest teams in recent memory last season, the Valley Center High School wrestling squad looks to improve on last year's performance with an experienced and diverse team.

The Hornets return six all-league selections, including two 5A state medalists from a year ago. Sophomore Michael Turkali placed sixth at 113 pounds with a 30-9 record and junior Don Boone placed second at 145 pounds with a 40-13 record.

Not only did the team return most of its key members, but the Hornets look to be more experienced and well-rounded. Coach Brian Shelton, who is entering his 19th season, said this will be a key factor in his team's success this year.

"We have a few more kids out, but the encouraging part is every class is fairly large," he said. "My junior class has 20 kids in it and I've really never had a junior class that large. If you get a big, giant group of upper-classmen, usually you're going to be pretty good. We'll probably have about one freshman in the lineup starting varsity, where last year we had three, four and maybe five at times. Last year, a fourth of our team was freshmen and that's just something that's never happened before."

Shelton's belief that the team is better off with last year's experience was echoed by senior co-captain Nick Romig. Romig went 30-12 last season at 120 pounds, losing in the state quarterfinals to undefeated state champion, Paul Stuart, from Andover.

"We've got a lot of people returning," said Romig. "I think they know what to do now. We had a lot of freshmen on the team last year. They're all returning so they know a lot of what it entails when they're going out for wrestling. They're going to be ready for what's coming."

Valley Center faces intense competition throughout the season, as three of the top six teams in the state compete with the Hornets in the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League II. Goddard is ranked first in the state, Ark City is third and Andover is sixth. Shelton also expects Mill Valley and St. James to have talented teams in Class 5A.

Shelton is familiar with the grind of regular-season duals. He knows his team will be challenged throughout, but is more concerned with where they end up than what it takes to get them there. He seems to have confidence in his wrestlers and knows what they are capable of if they put in the right amount of work.

"I think we've got eight guys who can place at the state tournament if everyone stays healthy and they continue to improve," he said. "Their expectation is as high as mine — they want to finish well at the end of the season. They don't give out state tournament trophies in December. That comes in February, so we're looking at this as a slow, continuous build over the next three months. We think we're good enough to go up there and surprise somebody — maybe shock the world a little bit and make some noise at the end of the year. That's what our goal is. We shoot to be our best and healthiest the week of the regional tournament and hopefully that transfers over to the state tournament."

Things are setting up nicely for the Hornets, who recently found out they will host this year's regional tournament. With an advantage like that, the boys are now left to build off of last year's success by staying healthy and fit and improving their individual skill sets.

Junior co-captain and second-place state finalist Don Boone said that the older, more experienced returning wrestlers are more comfortable now that they know what to expect and can focus more on improving individual wrestling this season.

"What's going to make us better this year is being able to push ourselves and each other," he said. "We know what to expect from drilling and all that since we've been around it for a couple years. Now we can start focusing more on individual moves. It's going to help all of us out a lot."






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