Youth Movement: Mt. Pleasant wrestling young in 2021
When over 70% of your varsity team is made up of freshmen and sophomores, you’re young.
Such is the case with the 2021 Mt. Pleasant Oiler wrestling team in that 71% of its roster is made up of underclassmen. While this fact might deem well for the future, the truth is this season is vital for the Oilers in terms of growth and making strides.
Following Friday’s home quad with Montabella, Coopersville and Laingsburg the Oilers improved to 10-8 on the season, which is solid considering the aforementioned youth movement.
“We’ve got a lot of young, energetic kids, filling all weights,” said Mt. Pleasant sixth-year head coach Tyler Cline, whose team is 6-3 in conference duals. “I like this team and our future is bright, but with this shortened season we need to take advantage of every practice and meet, get better every day.”
On paper the Oilers have a couple hammers to rely on in senior Preston Walton (140), sophomore Grant Stahl (119) and freshman Noah Webster (103). Walton is one of three seniors on the team and coach Cline said he’s an exceptional wrestler and leader.
Stahl had a phenomenal freshman campaign last year as he went 39-3 and advanced to the Division 2 state championship match at 103 pounds, losing a heartbreaker 4-3 in the state-championship finale. To date he’s 14-1 and ranked.
Webster has also burst on to the scene as he’s also 14-1 and ranked in the state rankings. He’ll be one to watch going forward too.
“The nice thing is the kids see what kind of work ethic is needed to be successful, that’s beneficial,” said Cline. “As a coach you can talk about it, but it’s another thing to have the athletes do it. There’s no secret to this sport, it’s a lot of hard work.”
With less than two weeks left in the regular season the Oilers don’t have a lot of time left prep for the postseason, yet neither does anyone else. As it stands they will compete in Division 2 district action at Fremont on March 17.
Fremont and Ludington meet in the opener with Mt. Pleasant getting the winner in the district title match. Historically speaking this is a deviation from the norm for the Oilers in that they usually go South or East, or both, for districts. This year’s they’re going West to face two teams they don’t see too often.
If things go well the Oilers could lock up a district crown.
If not, well, the future still is bright if they continue to work.