Prep Wrestling Notes: Shawnee wrestlers in a rebuilding year

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By Kermit Rowe, Staff Writer 10:44 PM Wednesday, January 25, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — One of the biggest turnarounds among area wrestling programs in recent years has come at Shawnee High School.

The Braves have consistently been near the top of the Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division standings under coach Rick Allen and have annually sent qualifiers to the state tournament.

But they have hit a bump in the road this season.

“We’ve got a lot of injuries and quite a few eligibility issues, and then the football season went so long,” said Allen, a former Braves state champion in his seventh year as their head coach. “It seems like everything has just snowballed.

“This is the most humbling situation I’ve ever had in my coaching career of 15 years.”

As inspiring as the Braves’ run to the state finals was in football, with Allen as one of the assistant coaches, it had its fallout.

“We had a really successful football season and some of the guys decided not to come out, that they had other things they wanted to do,” said Allen. “It’s a rebuilding year. It is what it is.”

Right now, the Braves have 13 on the roster, but 10 of them are underclassmen and nine are freshmen and sophomores.

Senior district qualifier Lucas Sparks leads the way with a 10-2 record at 220 pounds.

Allen said Shawnee will be concentrating on individual goals this season, but remains optimistic about the program’s future.

“Looking down the road, I’ve got eight or nine eighth-graders right now who are fanatical about the sport, kind of like the class that graduated last season,” he said. “We’re going to try to finish strong this year and keep on moving forward.”

State poll: Despite injury woes, Mechanicsburg remains at No. 2 in Division III of the latest state coaches poll, released Wednesday.

The Indians lost to talented Washington Court House on Tuesday 47-19, but were missing sophomore state third-placer Austin Reese (sickness), senior 220-pounder K.C. Nelson (injury) and heavyweight Michael Coleman (out for the season with concussion issues). They had already lost returning state qualifier Austin Black (shoulder) for the season.

Graham is still the unanimous No. 1 in D-II.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0364.

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