With a very young and inexperienced roster this year, coach Kris Maddox and the Montague program will be focused on development and building good habits more than the win-loss record.
“We’re not the most talented team right now, but we have a core group of juniors that have trusted the process and are working their tails off,” Maddox said.
The Wildcats lost several wrestlers, including three of the program’s best, to graduation. Emma Pendell, the program’s second-ever state champion, is off to Siena Heights, and Chris Aebig and Jimmy Thommen both went to MCC. Aebig was the program’s first-ever four-time state qualifier, and Thommen earned a fourth-place state finish last season.
The team also lost a couple of promising athletes to the basketball team, leaving behind a young core that nevertheless will have some leadership to lean on.
Fletcher Thommen (Jimmy’s brother) and Kaiden Jeffery, both juniors, are the de facto boys team leaders with a lot of experience. Maddox said the two are pushing each other in the wrestling room while also helping develop the younger athletes. Also back is senior Ava Pelton, who placed third in the state a year ago and will be hungry to reach the top of the podium.
Other veterans who return include Isaac French, Maverick Osborne, Brock Hunter and Michael Jones. Maddox noted French and Osborne, who lead the heavier weights, are working together to get better in practices. Hunter is a returning regional qualifier. Jones showed flashes of excellence in his first year wrestling last winter and hopes to take another step forward.
The inexperience of the team will enable some young wrestlers to make an early impact. The ‘Cats have a good-sized freshman class coming in, including the coach’s son, Gavyn Maddox.
“Gavyn has obviously been around the sport since he was little, so trying to navigate that as a parent will be interesting this year,” Maddox said. “I’m trying to let him experience it on his own and let him learn from his mistakes without being too overbearing.”
Anthony Garcia, Alex Breed and Gibson Sholes, who like Maddox all played fall sports, join the team this year as well and hope to use their athleticism to improve quickly. Brothers Ethan and Mason Bassett have wrestling in their blood - sister Natalie wrestled for the ‘Cats - and will hope to crack the lineup.
Maddox is somewhat disappointed that Montague’s traditionally strong girls program has only three wrestlers in it to start the season, but they’re three good ones. In addition to Pelton, Zaniya Meza Wilson is back this season after narrowly missing out on reaching state a year ago. Freshman Taylor Moore has joined the team as well, and she’ll fill in the upper-weight spot that previously belonged to graduated Trisha Beckman. Moore played JV football in the fall, so she should fit right in.
The West Michigan Conference is always strong and includes two preseason top-10 teams in Whitehall and Hart, and the ‘Cats have a busy schedule of meets ahead. How the team responds to its challenges will be key. Maddox said the team works a lot on mental training each week.
“With any sport, mindset is a big part of the process,” Maddox said. “We have college wrestlers coming in and out of the room...and we try to tell them, the biggest difference in those levels is how fast you respond and react. The speed of the sport gets quicker every level you jump. We try to get them to do things without thinking, so there’s a lot of drilling.”
Maddox said he’s looking forward to working with his athletes on the dual format as well, which will be new to some of the less experienced wrestlers. There will be a focus on, when going against a much better opponent, trying to fight to avoid pins or surrendering bonus points.
“We’re trying to compete in every match,” Maddox said. “No one likes to get blown out, but you want to learn the process. We’re focused on ourselves and doing what we can to control what we can control. We’re trying to develop more as a team than focus on who we’re wrestling.
“It’s good to see the growth of our kids. That’ll be important to focus on...A lot of kids focus on the wins and losses, and our attitude is just to minimize those losses and close the spread.”
