Wrestling team look to improve diet discipline as it defends TRAC championship

FREMONT – The Fremont Ross wrestling team enjoyed tremendous success a year ago. The Little Giants sent nine qualifiers to the district meet, three to the state level and, as a team, snapped Clay’s five-year streak as conference champion.

But all that success doesn’t mean the Little Giants can’t do things in a better way.

Enter first-year coach Chad Hetrick, with years of experience locally coaching youth wrestling. As he takes over the Little Giant program, he and his staff are preaching maintaining discipline in dieting will lead to more success on the mats.

“Talent is not an issue, we all know that,” Hetrick said. “The biggest thing is Sunday was allowed to be their gorge days and they would come in 10 to 12 pouds heavy on Monday and we’re not allowing that anymore. We’re trying to maintain them.

“If they go at 120, we want them to stay within five pounds, which would be 125, so they can be healthy and ready to go,” he added. “You get less injuries that way. We brought on a strength and endurance coach this year has over 25 years of experience. So, we’re looking at have our guys strong at the end of the season when it’s going to count.”

The Little Giants, who begin their season Wednesday night at Edison, return a good crop of wrestlers with valuable experience.

Senior Lamonte Chapman (138 pounds) was second at district and advanced to the state meet, finishing the year with a 30-8 record. Junior DeShea Pettiford (29-9 record) will wrestle at 132 pounds having qualified to state at 120 last year and senior Garrett Barth (39-6) will wrestle at 170 once again having won the district championship a year ago.

Charles Chapman (126), Keaton Jordan (145 last year), Shawn Newsome (220 last year) and Mike Thomas (heavyweight) also return having qualified for the district tournament a year ago.

Though a pair of district qualifiers graduated, Jalen Cooper (152) and Hayden Abdoo (182), Hetrick believes the Little Giants have a crop of freshmen capable of rounding out some holes in the lineup, David Brada (106), Bryce Moreland (126), Evan Oglesbee (152) and Jackson Weissinger (160). Junior Caleb Wood (195 pounds) is back after a knee injury limited his season last year.

While Ross has a good crop of returning talent, making it back to the state meet will be a more difficult task for the Little Giants this year due to an influx of powerful programs such as Perrysburg, Elyria, Brecksville and St. Ignatius into the district.

“Knowing that our district switched up a little bit, it’s going to be a little harder to get guys out,” Hetrick said. “But we’re preparing now for that issue by trying to implement some things, weight training is one of them, so they can make it out and perform.”

While the district will be a challenge, so too will be repeating as TRAC champions. Clay will be gunning for Ross to take back the crown, but Hetrick believes if the Little Giants embrace the challenges the new coaching staff is throwing at them, repeating is certainly a possibility.

“I would say yes, without a doubt a doubt,” Hetrick said. “That being said, you have to maintain your grades and buy into this whole five-pound deal. I’m going to stick to it and try to get rid of the weight-cutting every week and hopefully that will help performance and we can go from there.

“I think the kids will step up to the plate and perform at the end of the season and do their best,” he added. “Oregon Clay has some tough freshmen stepping up to the plate. It’ll be a battle this year.”