The 2003-04 McLane wrestling
team was a young squad. They started the year off with
only 4 juniors and seniors. The remaining 10 wrestlers
were freshmen and sophomores with little varsity experience.
The team had an up and down year, due to some key injuries
during the season. It seemed like a week never went by
without someone out of the lineup. Injuries struck Branden
Stearns, Hadley Harrison, Brandon Saraceno, Clay Steadman
and Eric Zelina.
Due to the injury situation,
the team suffered a couple of unexpected losses. But when
the team was healthy, they were able to pull off
some big upsets. The Lancer wrestlers beat McDowell at
the GM Duals, Warren at the Indian Valley Duals and FCVC
Champion, Conneaut Lake.They were ranked 2nd and 3rd among
District 10 AAA teams for most of the year and would've
been selcted to wrestle in the District 10 Duals, but
Coach Mulholland decided not to apply, because the squad
was so banged up.
Passing on the D-10 Duals
turned out to be one of the best coaching moves of the
year. It gave the squad nearly 2 weeks to rest and heal.
The Lancers made a good showing at the District 10 tournament,
placing second as a team. They had 3 individual champs
and 7 place winners. All seven placed 3rd or higher and
qualified for the NW Regional tournament. That's when
lightning really struck!
McLane's 7 regional qualifiers
went to the NW Regional tournament and pulled off, what
might have been one of the biggest upsets of all time
in local wrestling. None of the experts picked McLane
to even finish in the top six. But the Lancers ended up
with 4 Regional Champs: Jake Keene, Hadley Harrison, Hayden
Harrison and Branden Stearns. Don Osinski pulled off a
couple of upsets to place 3rd and Travis Goss, who was
never in the regional rankings, beat 2 District champs
on his way to a 4th place finish. Ashton Osterberg may
have had the toughest bracket and didn't place, but he
won 3 bouts, one by fall and two major decision to aid
the team effort. The result was a first place team
finish over powerhouses, Bald Eagle Area, Clearfield
and Erie Prep, and 5 state qualifiers (the most ever in
one year)!
The GM state qualifiers went
to Hershey and managed to finish 23rd against some very
tough competition. It was by far, the highest finish among
District 10 teams. Oil City tied for 48th, Erie Prep and
McDowell were 50th, Warren was 61st and Conneaut Lake,
69th.
Hayden Harrison finished
his career with a 5th place finish at the PIAA
Championships and a stellar, 41-3 record. He also set
new school records for Career Wins (135), Career Takedowns
(501), Career Falls (67), Season Takedowns (173), and
Season Wins (41). He also holds the 3rd highest spot for
pins in a single season (24). Harrison won at least 29
bouts in each of his 4 years of wrestling and sported
a 77-6 record, with 47 falls in his last 2 seasons.
Jake Keene also meadaled
in Hershey, to bring home 8th place. He ended his
career with 103 wins (6th on the all-time GM list), his
38 wins this season ranks 4th on the all time GM list,
and his 190 takedowns is the 4th highest ever. He also
grabbed the number 9 spot for Season Takedowns with 78.
Sophomores, Hadley Harrison
and Don Osinski, as well as Junior, Branden Stearns got
some experience wrestling in the PIAA tournament that
will serve them well next season. Junior, Travis Goss
placed 4th at Regionals and will be looking to make it
to States next season. Junior, Ashton Osterberg also did
a great job at Regionals, and should make a run for the
state tourney in '05. Several other talented GM wrestlers
could emerge as contenders next year as well.
Seasons High Points:
GM upsets over McDowell and Warren were minor high points,
early in the year. But nothing could compare to the McLane
wrestlers winning the school's first ever NW
AAA Regional title in Altoona. And then to top it
all off, local writer, Todd Warner was so impressed with
the effort, he wrote an article, "Shocking
Dominance: General McLane Wins NWAAA Title".
The article was later published in the Pennsylvania
Wrestling News.
Season Low Points:
The season had several lows, mostly because of nagging
injuries. A loss to Corry early in the year and a one
point loss to Oil City were both disappointing. But, Coach
Mulholland's decision to step down after this season was
an especially hard pill to swallow. He will leave behind
a legacy of continuing a GM Wrestling Winning Tradition
that Coach Steve Samol put into motion in the 60's and
70's. Coach Mulholland's teams won 137 matches and lost
only 61 in his 12 years as a head coach. That's a nearly
70% win ratio and an average of 11.5 wins against only
5 losses per year. He coached numerous section, district,
regional and state place winners. He was also a three
time recipient of the "District 10 Coach of the Year"
award. His dedication, leadership and experience will
be missed.
The prospects for next year's
team look very bright however. Hayden Harrison and Jake
Keene will be impossible to replace. But with only 2 seniors
graduating, the squad will sport 3 or 4 solid seniors
and some young, but experienced underclassmen. A new head
coach will have to mold the squad, but look for General
McLane to compete for a District 10 title and send three
or more wrestlers to the state tournament next year!!!
It should be another exciting season.
