It’s the time of the year where blood, sweat and tears are left on the mat. Wrestling season is here and head coach Ned McGinley is excited about his 46th season leading the Monarchs.
The King’s wrestling team is an extremely young squad, the roster consisting of 19 freshmen and only one senior. And when it came to bringing in one of the biggest classes in the sport’s history at King’s, McGinley simply shrugged when responding.
“Not really,” he said from his office Thursday afternoon. “Wrestling is one of those sports where you just need to go out and get a hold of people.”
The old coach isn’t opposed to a young team as most would think. To McGinley, it increases the physicality in his room and how much he will have to coach his unseasoned grapplers.
“It means we are going to work a lot harder,” he said. “A lot of it is about focus and the repetitions you get. There is a lot more teaching and drilling then you would like to do. You’d like to do a little more wrestling but that will come a couple months from now.”
The only senior on the team is Nathaniel Seals, but McGinley said that some of the underclassmen have helped Seals lead such a young group.
Last week, King’s held the Monarch Invitational Tournament which has been around for over 30 years. Five teams in this year’s invitational were ranked in the top-20 nationally. King’s finished 10th out of 14 teams, but better competition will help the Monarchs later on in the season.
“We did a great job,” McGinley said. “They are young so they were a little tentative. Many of these kids did a great job but didn’t know how to finish it off.”
Looking forward
Jake Daniel, 125 lbs, 3rd at Monarch Invite: “He is just a goer, he just keeps on going and he doesn’t get tired,” McGinley said. “He lost a match by a late takedown in the semifinals and came back and pinned two kids. He doesn’t sit around regretting his mistakes as much as he does to make himself better.”
King’s next competition will come in the Ursinus Fall Brawl on Saturday. McGinley referred to these first two tournaments as pre-season matchups. King’s will open up its home schedule with Nassau County Community College on November 15th.
The much anticipated matchup against crosstown rival Wilkes will be held on enemy territory February 19th. King’s does make a trip earlier in the year to Wilkes for their annual Wilkes Open.
Vito Malacari covers King’s sports for WRKC Digital, follow him on Twitter @VitoMalacari23 or email him at VitoMalacari841@Kings.edu