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NTL WRESTLING: TROY LOOKING TO TURN THE PAGE IN 2024-2025 (2024-12-01)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
It will be a turning of the page for Troy wrestling, and writing the new chapter will be former Canton standout Garrett Wesneski. Wesneski was a state medalist at Canton, a National Champion in college, and worked with the wrestlers last season as an assistant coach.

But, along with the typical hurdles a new coach has to endure, Wesneski has had to figure out how to navigate the preseason with only half his team as the Trojan football team plays deep into the state postseason.

Wesneski’s not worried, though.

“My one roommate was from Southern Columbia, so that’s something they’re used to,” he said. “And the last few years when Canton had their run, I was a volunteer over there when that one group of Hayden Ward and Riley Parker went through, so you just work through it. I’ve watched a lot of these guys since they were little kids, so the run they’re making in football, you want to see them go win a state title, and when they come back, recovery is just so important. You give them that time off to get better, and take their time getting back in the room, because as long as they’re at their peak come March, that’s when it matters.”

Even when they come back Wesneski expects them to just have 12 wrestlers, meaning they’ll be short at least one weight class during the dual meet season, and likely even more, so building the numbers is at the top of his list of long term goals.

“Back when I was in high school the duals with Troy were really big,” Wesneski said. “They have a full team, you knew you were in for a competitive match. We have 12 total so that kind of hurts, but what I’ve been preaching to the guys is just buy into what we’re doing. It’s a tough thing to do to change the culture, but I got five guys, six guys and we’re talking about loving the fight. If we lose a dual, we don’t really care, but if every kid is wrestling six minutes hard, sprinting back to the center, just giving max effort, that’s all you can ask for.”

There are a few guys Wesneski is looking to have big seasons. Seniors Carter Austin (14-11) and Rylan Breidt (12-8) had winning seasons a year ago, while sophomore heavyweight Reed Palmer (12-11) had a strong finish to the season.

Another sophomore, Logunn Heasley (7-11), is another Wesneski is looking to step up, along with Kael Millard, who was a district qualifier two years ago as a freshman.

“I have a couple guys that have never wrestled before, I want to see them grow from the first day I saw them in an open mat to the end of the year,” said Wesneski. “Our two seniors both love wrestling, both put in a lot of time. I know Carter’s put in a lot of time in the off season, he did really good down at the Lock Haven Classic. Ryland, same thing, he got some matches down there, so I expect those guys to step up and be leaders for us.”

Breidt was a district qualifier last year wrestling up a weight class at 189, so he’s excited to see what he can do with kids his own size.

“I was kind of a struggle getting far at 189 because the kids are a lot bigger up there,” he said. “I’ve been in the weight room here at Troy and at my house, so I think it’ll be a big difference, but it’ll be a good difference.”

He’s determined to stay mentally tough this season.

“Don’t give up, don’t let other people tell you you can’t do something,” explained Breidt. “Your body is going to tell you you can’t do it, but you’ve got to get your mind to tell you that you can. I just want to make it as far possible.”

Austin is equally excited to get going.

“There’s a lot of big potential going on in the mat room,” he said. “I’m working on my conditioning with extra training after practice. My conditioning was really bad last year, I got gassed in the third period, so I’m trying to improve on that.”

The senior is looking to wrestle either at 160 or 152, a spot he knows will be filled with plenty of talented kids.

“There’s good competition, everyone’s always putting ups a big fight in the match,” Austin said. “Conditioning is going to help a lot. Third period is the biggest fight of the match, it doesn’t matter the score, you can still win.”

Heasley went through the growing pains of a typical freshman a year ago but Wesneski feels he can take a big leap this year.

“I learned that I need to push myself more in practice, and that I need to work a lot harder at practice,” Heasley said. “Garrett, he’s teaching us tilts ands tuff, and I really like the tilts. It’s a good move, and I like running it.”

He’ll be wrestling at 139 or 145 during the season.

“It’s hard but I thin I could put myself in with it,” said Heasley. “My goal this year is to win more matches than I lose, and to get a little further out of sectionals, maybe to regionals.”

Wesneski feels all his wrestlers have room for improvement this season.

“Kael Millard, he’s coming back, I’m sure excited about him,” he said. “He’s just one of those kids, he’s the standard here, one of the football players, he’s gritty, he’s coachable, you know you’re going to get 110-percent. I’m expecting Keegan Kerr and Wilder (Koch) to take some steps, and then I’ve got a bunch of other freshmen - Garret Parks, Brion Putnam, Marcus Frisbie - they’re green but they’re going to come up. I think they’re very coachable, and I think they’re going to jump levels from when they get in here here towards sectionals.”

The date to circle will be January 22 when they host Canton, and Garrett will be facing off with his dad, Lyle Wesneski.

“People give me a hard time over in Canton, but it’s all in good fun,” he said. “At the end of the day, I got into coaching because I love the sport. I love wrestling, it’s really made me who I am, and my job now is to help kids reach their goals, reach their full potential, and then also just enjoy doing it, because all the skills prepare them in their future job, being a good husband, being a good friend, being a good father, whatever it may be. I think that’s what makes it fun, but it’d be cool to beat my old man. I’ve got one or two cousins on the team over there still, so that’d be fun. The big thing is it’s over here, and I know it’s a big fundraiser match, and that’s another thing, trying to build the culture here, and getting it back to where we have a packed gym. These guys deserve that; it’s a hard sport, they work really hard, they deserve a packed gym for the excitement.”

ROSTER

Garret Parks (9)

Marcus Frisbie (9)

Brion Putnam (9)

Thomas Moon (9)

Connor Dibble (10)

Keagan Kerr (10)

Logunn Heasley (10)

Reed Palmer (10)

Wilder Koch (11)

James Dyke (11)

Kael Millard (11)