Season Preview

Cardinals Young- But Expectations Remain the Same
Last season’s motto for the Coon Rapids Cardinal Wrestling team was; The Dream Keeps the Champion Awake! If this year’s team is as competitive as past years teams, then the Cardinal Wrestling team will probably lose quite a bit of sleep as they prepare for the 2009-2010 season. The Cardinals have never been known to duck competition and this year’s schedule, some say, could be the most challenging and grueling schedule the Cardinals have seen in recent memory. The Cardinals begin their tournament schedule at Hastings and return home to the Cardinal Duals where they have added Cambridge to this year’s tournament as well as Ellsworth high school #4 from Wisconsin. In addition, for the first time in the last 36 years the Cards will not be attending the Columbia Heights tournament and instead will be in a quad with Cambridge, Forest Lake and St. Francis. They say that, “steel- sharpens-steel” so the Cards will also travel to Kasson-Mantorville in southeast Minnesota for the Swalla Duals which involves #10AA team Kasson-Mantorville,  defending State AA Champions and #1 AA Simley, #3AA Plainview Elgin-Millville and #5 AA Scott West. The Cardinals will also be participating in the 56 team Rumble on the Red tournament in Fargo, N.D., the Christmas tournament and the always tough 7AAA tournaments, which now includes St Michael-Albertville.
Leading the Cardinals this season will be: Captain Chad Mack is a two time state entrant and looks to improve on his  5th place finish at state last year. Chad is tough on the feet and even tougher on the mat. Kahron Nix surprised a few people last year by making it into the state finals. Kahron wasn’t surprised and neither were his teammates. Kahron is a very confident and determined wrestler who plans on making his annual pilgrimage to St. Paul once again. Captain Dan Coughlin served notice last season that he plans on anchoring the lower weights this season. Dan is a fierce competitor and often wears opponents down on pure will and conditioning. Captain Luke Stocker exemplifies the true Cardinal spirit and leads the Cardinals with his “team first attitude”. Luke is an intelligent wrestler who wins matches using his head and outstanding conditioning.
The Cardinal wrestling program is excited to see how they stack up to the competition and will need the support of the returning starters to overcome the challenges ahead. The Cardinals return two State placewinners and seven section placewinners.  They are Darren Gagne (5th), Luke Stocker (5th), Kahron Nix (2nd)and State Runner-up, Chad Mack (2nd) and State 5th place, Michael Burckhardt (5th), Brandt Halseth (5th), and Tanner Lowe (5th).Other wrestlers expected to step up once again are:  Section Team members Matt Julkowski, Colton Adams, and Austin Lubinski, along with Chris Biggerstaff, Jacob Fladland, Matt Julkowski, and Dan O’Grady. All these wrestlers have contributed in the past and will be expected to step up and deliver again this season in order to compete with the best teams in the state of Minnesota.
The Cardinals will also look for contributions from last year’s ninth grade team, the middle school and the JV to make an immediate impact this season at the varsity level. The following wrestlers could establish themselves in the rich tradition of Cardinal elite wrestlers. Wrestlers like Cooper Anderson, Jordan Newman, Doug Pouliot, Ben Aarhus, Reece Ahlsten, Patrick Freese, Joe Anderson, Jon Chmilowsky, Riley Lawson, Jaime Cuate, Bryan Ealy, Buddy Falconer, Tony Freese, Brandon Grahn, Blake Jenkins, Alex Larson, James Magaard, Corbin Matasovsky, Adam Michaud, Joe Murphy, Brandon Peterson, John Pirner, Corey Valliancourt and Jake Volkmann are all seasoned wrestlers and will be expected to contribute to the success of the Cardinal Wrestling Program.
This years team is relatively young compared to years past, but no less talented. Last year the Cardinals wrestled four ninth graders and one eighth grader in the starting lineup and finished with a respectable 19-6 record. That experience should start to pay dividends this season. Some whispers out there say “This team coming up could potentially be better than the Cardinals 2008 team that placed third at the State tournament. If last year’s motto still holds true that, “The Dream, Keeps the Champion Awake” there must be a lot of sleepless nights in the city of Coon Rapids!
Cardinal Pride!