The Golden Eagle wrestlers will open the 2018-2019 season at home tomorrow against Bellefonte at 6 pm. The team has been working hard during the off-season, and with an influx of new wrestlers, they are looking to improve significantly on last year’s 3-12 record.

“We have a good coaching staff and a decent amount of talent,” said sophomore captain Hunter Walk. “Not having a full team will be a challenge though.”

This year one major goal for Head Coach Terry Tate’s team is to reach a team district title, as several of Tyrone wrestlers have the chance of placing at districts.

Tate also wants his wrestlers to be challenged this season, which has led to a lot of changes in the schedule.

“There isn’t a match or tournament that we can look at and say, ‘That’s going to be an easy one.’ We dropped some non-competitive tournaments in exchange for some that were really going to challenge us and our league is one of the toughest in the state,” said Tate. “I am not afraid to say that our schedule is a tough one and I would compare it to any other schools and be proud of the product that we are putting out.”

In order to get ready for the challenge of a tougher schedule, the wrestlers have been focusing on lifting and technique throughout the off season.

However, the team is still missing the 126, 132 and 152 weight classes, which will make some dual meets a challenge.

“After Christmas we should be getting closer to filling one or two of those when some of our wrestlers who are on the mend get healthy,” sad Tate, “but 126 is an open spot as well as 152 for the foreseeable future so if anyone wants to come out for the team and weighs around 126, 132 or 152, we have a spot for you.”

The team only lost four wrestlers to graduation last year, Daniel Peterson, 285lbs, Kyle Plummer, 170-182lbs, Jamal Hicks, 126-132lbs, and Derrick Harris, 152-160lbs. Among these graduates were two District place winners (Derrick Harris and Jamal Hicks) and two first-year senior wrestlers.

Tate is bringing back seven letter winners from last season and is excited to add 11 new wrestlers to the squad, including two freshman who are wrestling varsity this season.

“I think that in their own way, all of the wrestlers will do well,” said Tate, “‘Doing well’ is a very generic term and you have to look at what you started with and compare it to where you finish for each individual to determine if they did well.”

Returning letter winners including sophomores Hunter Walk 113, Noah Sprankle 145, Alex Weaver 152, Tommy Hicks 170, junior Mason Walls 120, and seniors Brandon Ixtepan 138 and Jack Lewis 195.

Sophomore Hunter Walk is the only regional qualifier and district placer returning to the mat. He is also one of the three team captains this season.  The other two are senior Jack Lewis and junior Mason Walls.