With eight wrestlers returning who qualified for the State 1A championship last year, the 2019-20 Middlesex High School Chargers wrestling team is loaded with experience.
The Chargers finished 10th as a team in the state last season and will be paced this year by All-State performers Cole Ruark and Brock Parrish.
Ruark finished fourth in state last year in the 160-pound weight class. He will be wrest-ling in the 170-pound weight class this year.
Parrish won a fourth place state medal in the 106-pound class. He will move up to the 113-pound weight class this season.
Middlesex also will have Brayden Deel coming back in the 182-pound class. Deel scored 7 points in the state tournament last year.
Other state qualifiers returning are Andrew Gynn, 285-pound division; Thomas Wilson, 120-pound class; Parker Smith, 126-pound class; Owen Miller, 170-pound class; and Skyler Mason, 220-pound class.
“We have got a lot of experience coming back,” said head coach Joel Anderson. “We also have some new wrestlers who I think are going to contribute to our team.”
Lakin Millen will be the 106-pound class wrestler for the Chargers. Riley Dean and Nathan Campbell will join Wilson in the 120-pound weight class.
Vicente Reyes and Jacob Downs are going to participate in the 132-pound weight class; Eric Graulich and Owen Wynberry, 138-pound division; Jordan Millen and Ivy Jenkins, 145-pound class; and Chris Stokes and Austin Elliott in the 152-pound class.
Also, Wyatt Brown and Cole Harris will wrestle in the 160-pound weight class; Cole Stamm, 194-pound division; and Ryan McDonald will join Gynn in the 285-pound class.
The Chargers have three eighth graders making up the junior varsity portion of the team. They are Aaron Darnell, Wesley Peck and Rowan Anderson.
Middlesex will open its regular season on Saturday, December 7, at Caroline High School, and will travel to Windsor on Tuesday, December 10, to take on the Dukes.
