Wheaton Wrestlers Top Themselves Again

The Wheaton High School wrestling team has continued to overachieve this season.   Coming into the 2012-2013 season, Coach Randy Bosnic was the 4th coach in as many years with the struggling program.  Coach Bosnic was an assistant coach under longtime Wheaton wrestling Head Coach Dave Moquin (1966-2007) who was elected to the school’s inaugural Hall of Fame class of 2012.  Perhaps some of that tutelage has paid off on Coach Bosnic.  When the season began Coach Bosnic knew what he was up against, “My expectations were to rebuild the program from the bottom up particularly with the focus on 9th grade class.  In that area I feel we were successful.”  The Knights team is small in numbers.  At full strength the Knights are at a disadvantage only being able to field 11 out of the 14 weight classes.  As the season wore on injuries took an even further toll on the lineup often only fielding between 7 – 9 wrestlers.  They would often lose meets via forfeit before they began.  Yet on the mat the Knights remained competitive in the individual matches they had.

    On February 15th, at the County Tournament at Blair High School, Xavier Howard 120 lbs, William Monteith 160 lbs, and Tim Mallet 220 lbs, all won two matches each. The Knights also qualified six wrestlers for the 2A West Regionals Tournament at Marriott’s Ridge High School in Howard County.  That’s when Wheaton made a big statement.  Xavier Howard  won three matches in a row and took 3rd place, William Monteith won three in a row also receiving 3rd place, and Tim Mallet won 3 out of 4 matches receiving 5th place.  Ray Guevara (180 lbs) won two to get take 6th place.  Bosnic added, “I can honestly say that I attribute the biggest reason for our success was getting the kids to buy into my philosophy and goals for the program.”  The pay off? Xavier, William, and Tim all move on to the State Finals this Friday, March 1st, at the University of Maryland.  By sending six kids to the Regionals, and three to the States, this is Wheaton’s finest accomplishment since 1997.  In addition Wheaton finished 8th in the Region ahead of 10 other teams.  No matter how they finish at States, these wrestlers are a part of a special time in Wheaton wrestling.  So how does Coach Bosnic follow up in 2013-2014?  “Next year, we would like to build on the success of our current wrestlers, attract new ones, win our division, and get the word out that Wheaton is BACK!”