Tim McKeever needs his Mingus Union High School wrestlers to make the grade.
“It’s running rampant,” the head wrestling coach said prior to a Monday, Dec. 14, match with Kingman and Payson high schools for which five of his Marauders are academically ineligible at Flagstaff High School. “Four of them would be in the starting lineup. It’s really bad right now.”
So bad that, the season after ineligibility prevented any of his Marauders from mounting the awards podium at the Division III state tournament in February, McKeever has struggled to field even half a varsity through his first four meets.
“Unless I can find somebody, I won’t have a 106-, and I won’t have a 220-[pound wrestler] for the year,” he said. “I just don’t have those.”
Just six Marauders wrestled Friday and Saturday, Dec. 4 and 5, at the Peaks Invitational in Flagstaff.
“Three of them placed, which was cool,” McKeever said, “I was fine with that, because some of the young guys aren’t ready yet for that competition.”
Freshman Trent Miller was, placing third at 126 pounds. Junior Charles Hardy and senior Trey Pettijohn both finished in fifth place at 170 and 160 pounds, respectively.
“I had two guys that lost in the tiebreaker to go into the medal round,” McKeever added. “So I was really happy.”
It was a better outcome than Nov. 28 at Yavapai County Duals, where the Marauders “got walloped,” in McKeever’s words, losing 54-21 to Prescott High School, 50-18 to Bradshaw Mountain High School and 66-10 to Chino Valley High School.
“The guys who were supposed to win, did,” he said. “We knew some of the matchups were going to be really tough.”
That followed four dual match wins and no losses with “tons of freshmen in the lineup,” McKeever said, in the Marauders’ season opener Nov. 24 at Camp Verde High School.
Nathan Jones, McKeever’s 195-pounder, was lost for the winter with knee surgery after getting hurt in the fourth quarter of the Marauders’ first-round state football playoff loss at Verrado High School last month.
“Right now, we’re working with what we got and we’re just going to try and make them better,” McKeever said. “The guys that we have can win their weight classes and move on to State, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
Plus, sophomore Tyree Kim and his brother, Ethan, a 182-pound senior, are struggling with shoulder injuries. Their backups are ineligible.
“Tyree’s a new wrestler at 132 [pounds],” McKeever said. “If we can get those guys back, stay healthy to the first of the year, I think we’ll be OK.”
While sophomore Nick Doerksen is moving up a weight class, to 145 pounds, another “brand-new” wrestler, junior Tim Loper, has stepped into the 138-pound slot.
“He’s going to learn on the fly,” McKeever said. “He’s picked it up really fast.”
While McKeever had enough to win Dec. 2 at Blue Ridge High School, 42-30, the Marauders tied Flagstaff in the same multiple match and won just two matches in their team loss to Show Low High School.
“They’re the defending sectional champs,” McKeever said of his Section I rival. “Even with our low numbers, we’re doing really well.”
Freshman Michael Thurman has stepped up at 113 pounds, but at 120 and 285 pounds, respectively, McKeever needs juniors Cody Outland and heavyweight Stephen McClanahan to score some team points.
“Everything else would be full if they’d do their homework,” McKeever said. “If we can get everybody eligible, we’re going to be fine.”
For the full Mingus wrestling schedule and more photos, please see the Wednesday, Dec. 9, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
