Ready to rumble
Ronan squad strong despite low numbers
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Ronan wrestling coach Dustyn Azure is looking for a few good men.
A year after finished seventh in the state in Class A and second at the divisional tournament, the Chiefs are looking for wrestlers to fill out their roster.
“The main challenge we will face once again this season is numbers,” Azure said. “We currently have 15 wrestlers and are hoping for more.”
Even with the low turnout, the Chiefs are expecting to have another strong season. Ronan finished 22-5 in dual matches last season as they finished behind only Polson at the divisional meet.
The Chiefs had another strong showing at the state level as Cameron Neiss earned his second state championship while Toby Cheff also won his weight class. Ronan also finished seventh as a team at the state event.
While their number may be small, the Chiefs more than make up for their small team size with large amount of talent. Of the 13 wrestlers Ronan sent to the state tournament last season, eight will be returning to the squad for the 2010-2011 season.
The Chiefs will be led by senior defending state champion Cheff, who won the title in the 189-pound division last season. Cheff has never finished lower than third in the state in his weight class and was recently named an Honorable Mention member of the All-USA Wrestling team, which highlights the nation’s top high school senior wrestlers.
Joining Cheff in a leadership position on the team will be senior Cole McArthur, who finished third in the 160-pound weight class at state last season.
“We have great senior leaders in Toby Cheff and Cole McArthur,” Azure said. “They know what kind of work and dedication it takes to get onto the award stand at the state meet. This year’s squad is going to be young but they are very scrappy. If they believe in our leaders and our coaching, they will go far.”
Youth will dominate the Ronan squad this season as the team is currently made up of three seniors, one junior, four sophomores and six freshmen.
Joining Cheff and McArthur as the senior members of the team is heavyweight division wrestler Aaron Yazzie-Whitworth, another state qualifier from last year’s squad.
Dustin Goldsby, another state qualifier, is the team’s only junior while sophomores Andrew Teigan, Shelby Grant, Quentin Denton and Colby Roberts all made it to the state tournament as well last season.
The team’s newest members will have to step up this season if the team wants to match last year’s success as the squad this season will include six freshmen.
“We have a group of six freshmen who all have great work ethics,” Azure said. “These freshmen are all about the same weight but they are great competitors and hard-nosed kids.”
Four of the new freshmen faces will compete in either the 119 or 125-pound weight class, Brandon Dumont, Jake Stenstrom, Chase Rhine and Conner Benn. Austin Hakes will most likely wrestle in the 140 or 145-pound divisions while Ronny Cullis will be in either the 145 or 152-pound division.
“We, as a coaching staff, are looking forward to watching this young team grow and come together as a solid tournament team this year,” Azure said. “We anticipate seeing which wrestlers are going to rise to the occasion this year. Our very young team will have to grow up fast.”
Azure said it will be a tough road for the Chiefs this year if they want to repeat what they were able to do last season and it all starts with not taking anyone for granted at the conference level.
“We can’t pick out just one or two teams in our conference that we need to beat this season,” he said. “We believe that we need to beat all of the teams in our conference. It will be a dog fight once again for the divisional title, but we have to put the target on Polson’s back since they were the divisional champs last year.”
Even with the youthful team and low numbers, Azure says he is expecting his team to have another good season.
“We believe that we have the work ethic, practice partners and team leaders to help get us where we need to be by the end of the season,” he said. “The main thing we expect this year is for our team to go into every match ready to do battle and fight until the last second ticks from the clock. We need to learn from our mistakes and fix them from week to week.”
