|
|
While John Bonilla, Mike Caturano, Matt Delehanty, J.D. Ingalls, Scott Heffernan, Kyle Peatfield, Adam Renfrew and Carlos Velez all contributed to the second-place plaque that now sits in the Morgan trophy case, McCusker feels they helped bring along a younger crop.
"We've got some good juniors and good sophomores who haven't had a shot to wrestle varsity because they were behind those kids," McCusker said.
That means a lot of JV experience that would have been varsity experience at programs with lesser depth. The hope is that they are ready to step in and contribute with the opportunity.
The given is who will be this year's top performers. McCusker expects that to come from Cramer and Kramer, and that's not a law firm or a movie.
Aaron Cramer brought home a second in the Class S 189-pound division last year for the Huskies, but this time around he'll go in the 215 division.
Kramer was third in the 125 division and is back to give Morgan some early points there.
A pair of juniors will also bring some valuable experience in key divisions. Eric Delehanty will go in the 130 group this year after picking up a fifth in the 119 last year, and Dave Iaquinto moves up to 145 after securing a second in the 135 as a sophomore.
"The seniors provide great leadership and they're not going to settle to not finish as high as they possibly can," McCusker said.
The one thing that does concern the coach is he has a lot of wrestlers in the same divisions, which can provide for some interesting practices but also leave some brackets open on match day or mean some competitors will have to do some selective eating to make weight.
Morgan has always wrestled a very competitive Class S schedule the past few years and has even sprinkled in some higher class programs as well in order to help prepare for end-of-season matches. That hasn't changed. Programs like Guilford, Danbury, Xavier and East Lyme dot the schedule.
