All-Missota Conference honorable mention in 2010-11
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
On the bright side, the 2011-12 Tiger roster will boast 16 wrestlers who earned varsity letters last winter. The flip side of that coin is only five of that number are upperclassmen.
"Our strengths will be our youth and our lower weights," second-year coach Chad Olson said. "But even though we are still a young team, all but one of our younger wrestlers have at least one season of varsity experience."
The five returning seniors who will provide much of the leadership and fill out the upper portion of the lineup include Ridge Raddatz (145/152/160); Trevor Breezley (152/160); Tyler Engel (182/195); Dakota Louis-Dupay (220) and Bret Hoffman (285).
The sophomore class is a strong one with six letterwinners returning: Jacob Goddard (106/113); Joe Liden (132/138); Jake Rudeen (138/145); Chris McCue (145/152/160); Joe Hoeve (152/160) and Godfrey Mpetey (220).
Other returnees include freshmen Kyle Benjamin (113); Matt Rustad (120); John Waltz (126/132) and Brayden Chapman (132) and eighth-grader Taylor Venz (106).
Benjamin received all-Missota Conference honorable mention last season as a freshman and Venz is ranked ninth at 106 lbs. in the Class 3A pre-season state poll.
Sophomores Kelvin O’Brien (113/120) and Brian Caravantes (138/145) and freshman Logan Haakana (145/152) should also vie for varsity mat time.
"We will be more competitive in our conference duals and in our section," Olson predicted. "We'll be able to fill out a complete lineup but we don't have much depth in the top four weight classes."
The Tigers will find out a lot about their abilities in the first weeks of the season, starting with a big 16-team tournament at Lakeville on Dec. 3, followed by match-ups with four state-rated teams the following weekend.
Olson said Shakopee looks like the team to beat in the Missota Conference race with the Sabers and Prior Lake expected to be the front-runners in the chase for Section 2AAA honors.
Former Tiger varsity coach Jon Lund and Doug Quick will serve as varsity assistants this winter with Lance Offerman and Steve Gliva handling the middle school program.
