State of the Marauders: Wrestling using opportunities to diagnose, design, and improve
12/8/2020 11:00:00 AM | Wrestling
MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – In such unprecedented times, the Millersville wrestling team is utilizing everything at its disposal to improve. Hours that would usually be spent on managing weight or preparing for upcoming matches has instead been used to work on fine-tuning and diagnosing areas of need that should pay off in the long run.
"We were able to kind of individualize some training and really dive into different situations and dissect them like scientists," said head coach Kerry Regner. "You don't always do that because usually from September through March you're focused on training. A lot of times there's no sense of urgency to stop and say "Hey, let's go over this." So that's what we're doing this fall."
"I think something that the coaching staff does well here is we individualize the athletes' strengths and weaknesses. What might work for someone might not work for someone else, so again we're like scientists in the lab. If someone is getting scored on in this way, well, let's run a trial and figure it out. In general, we want to keep our heads down, move forward, and allow ourselves to grow through this time."
Millersville is coming off of a season in 2019-2020 that saw them win seven dual meets, three more than the previous year. The Marauders remain an extremely young team with loads of potential.
"I think we're in a little bit of a unique situation," said Regner. "When you look at our roster you don't see the word senior. We have guys that we want to invest in that want to invest in us and want to be part of Millersville wrestling forever. We want to give them that opportunity as part of this rebuild."
Some highlights from last season include six returning Marauder wrestlers with double-digit wins, including 14 for sophomore Devin Flannery and 16 for juniors Ryan McGuire and Josh Walls. The sophomore trio of Brandon Connor (12 wins), Jackson Erb (11) and Elijah Tuckey (10) all return. Josh Tuckey should see action after redshirting in 2019-20, while Anthony Yacovetti is back after an injury kept him out for the entire season. The team was separated into four different pods in order to train safely in the fall, with both Tuckey brothers, Walls, and Yacovetti all stepping up into pod leadership roles.
"And those aren't our only leaders," said Regner. "We've talked to some freshmen about being leaders of the freshman class and talked to some other guys about continuing to step up and show how to make good decisions and lead through example. So we have our eyes on quite a few people but those four are our designated guys and they've done a great job."
The team welcomed a large freshman class of 11 wrestlers this fall, who began their collegiate careers in situations that were completely unexpected.
"The freshman have to have a lot of trust," said Regner. "During recruiting we obviously told them what to expect and what the season would look like, but then none of that is true. So they have to be patient and look at the coaching staff and the program and know that we have their best interests in mind. We want the best for them and we're going to help them along that way. Things are coming. We'll find a way to win. It looks completely different but we're training hard, training smart, and using this time wisely to improve."
Recruiting the next group of wrestlers for 2021-22 has also become complicated because of the pandemic. High school wrestling teams and leagues are still figuring out how best to proceed with seasons—if at all—but Regner is confident he and his staff can navigate it all.
"Our recruiting is going to be very fine-tuned. All this time has allowed us to be a little more methodical than what we would normally be. We want to be diligent and find the student-athletes that fit us; guys who look at Millersville University, the wrestling program, and the community in the area and say this could be home for the next four or five years."
All in all, the future remains bright for Millersville wrestling. The hard work continues and whenever a return to collegiate competition does happen the Marauders should be ready, willing, and able to show off all they've learned.
"I'm really excited to train hard in the spring like we never have before," said Regner. "Like I said, dissecting strengths and weaknesses and really honing in on each individual and finding out where we need to focus. We have a young team that is jam packed with potential and there's going to be a firestarter in there. You never know where it's going to come from but when one spark flies and it catches you know that you'll see an abundance of success."
Players Mentioned
