MVHS Wrestlers Young But Not Lacking Experience

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Moapa Valley High School Wrestling team has come roaring back from its two year COVID break. The team had 28 wrestlers come out for practice this year.

“That is probably the biggest team that I have ever been involved in since coaching,” said MVHS Head Wrestling coach Ryan Anderson. “It is almost twice the number that we have ever had in recent years. So I’m excited about that.”

Anderson has been serving as Assistant Coach for several years now under head coach Tyson Houston. But Houston has stepped down after many years of service in the position and Anderson has stepped into the spot. Anderson is also still getting help from Assistant Coach Steve Katich in leading the team.
“We have a large number of kids, but we are an extremely young team,” Anderson said.

About 85 percent of the Pirate team this year are freshmen and sophomores, Anderson said.
“And due to COVID, that means that our sophomores never got to have a season at all last year as freshmen. So we have about 85 percent of our team that has never competed in a high school match yet.”

But that doesn’t mean that the team is devoid of experience or talent. The Moapa Valley has a healthy youth wrestling program. That gives kids from age 5 through middle school plenty of opportunity to compete.

One of the four team captains, Shandon Matheson, is a good example of that, Anderson said.
“Despite only being a sophomore, Shandon has wrestled a lot of years,” Anderson said, “enough that he is pretty dialed in and a good wrestler.”
Matheson is expecting to be wrestling in the 152-160 weight range.

Grant Henrie is another of the Pirate team captains. As a junior, he is counted among the more seasoned members of the team. He will be wrestling at 220 lbs this season.

Team captain Clay Whipple is also a junior. “This is Clay’s third year wrestling with us and he has grown a lot,” Anderson said. “Last time he wrestled he was in the 140 lb class. Since then he has put on around 40 lbs which is pretty cool. Right now he is at around 182.”

The fourth team captain will be MVHS senior Jarett Jackman who will be wrestling in the heavyweight class. “Jarrett has come on really strong this year and should be a solid force for the team,” Anderson said. “He is one of only two seniors we have on the team this year.”
The other senior wrestling on the team will be Tyler Rowley.

One other upper classman on the team is Braxton Farley, a junior who will be wrestling in the 145 lb range, Anderson said.

After that, much of the rest of the team are a group of freshmen who have come up through the youth program into the Pirate team. “So believe it or not, they have got quite a lot of experience under their belts,” Anderson said.

A few of the highlights in this freshman class include Garen Staley, Ty Jensen, Jared Evans and Gavyn Frederick.
“So we are super young in general this year,” Anderson said. “But if these kids work hard and stick with it, we are going to be a force to be reckoned with in a couple of years for sure. And, who knows? We might even turn it on this year. We will see what happens.”

Anderson talked about the strong asset that the Youth Wrestling program has provided to the Pirate team over the years. This program is also coming back strong this year, with around 55 wrestlers signed up from kindergartners to 8th graders.

“We have quite a few eighth graders in that program that have been wrestling since they were five or six years old,” Anderson said. “So we are going to have next year’s incoming freshmen be a huge boon for our program!”

With 28 athletes to manage on the Pirate team, Anderson said that he and Katich have their hands full in practice. In fact, they are looking for help.
“I’d be very interested in hiring a Junior Varsity coach if there is anybody out there interested,” Anderson said.

Practice runs from 2:00 to 4:30 pm every day, he added. “So their schedule would have to accommodate that,” he said. “But if anyone is interested in helping out I’d love to talk to them.”

For more information, call the Moapa Valley High School at 702-397-2611 and leave a message for Anderson.