by MARC WALKER
Intern Sports Reporter

With a new head coach this year, the Appalachian State wrestling season officially kicks off Sunday with the Michigan State Open in East Lansing, Mich.

JohnMark Bentley worked as three years for the assistant coach, and has moved up to the head coach this year after Paul Mance retired.

Bentley, with the support of assistant coaches Kyle Jahn and Christian Sinnot, are anticipating great results from the tournament.

“We’ve got high expectations,” Bentley said. “It’s the first tournament of the season and we’ve had a great preseason. We expect to go up there and have several champions.”

With 10 different weight classes starting at 125 pounds and ending at 285 pounds, wrestlers are divided up into three separate groups: lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight. Appalachian has a coach for all three groups, providing extra support to each individual athlete.

Although the actual matches in wrestling are individual events, wrestling is a team sport composed of many aspects. The 10 starting wrestlers travel together, diet together and provide moral support for each other.

“The biggest thing is that if the person before you wins, it gives you an incentive to win, because you don’t want to be the only one on your team that loses,” Dylan Temple said.

Temple, who finished second last year in the Southern Conference tournament in the 184-pound weight class, originally started his freshman career at 197 pounds.

The ASU wrestling team only lost one senior last year and have had a plethora of freshman come out this year. So far they have already filled three weight class holes, making the team stronger than the prior season.

Wrestling takes an immense amount of focus for several reasons and keeping everyone mentally, physically and spiritually prepared can be difficult.

“Wrestling is kind of like my ministry,” Austin Trotman said. “Win or lose I’m not going to hang my head. If I lose a match it won’t be because I gave up, that’s the kind of attitude you have to have at this level.”

Trotman experienced a season-ending injury last year, but was a qualifier for the NCAA tournament in the 2007-08 season.

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