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WOODSTOCK — Wes Jenkins comes over from the prep school ranks to take over The Woodstock Academy wrestling program.
Jenkins coached the Hyde School program for the last 10 years.
There are a couple of differences.
“Private (schools) had a lot more stipulations in wrestling in a good way. Public has some dangers in how it manages the weight system,” Jenkins said.
He called the private school system “hyper-regimented” in terms of the percentage of weight that is allowed to be lost in a week.
Jenkins said, for example, a 200-pound wrestler is allowed to lose 1.5 percent of that weight, or 3 pounds, in a given week. If a wrestler weighs in at 199 pounds, his weight is then reset to that number.
Jenkins said in the public ranks, a wrestler has a start and end weight based on 1.5 percent per week.
“If I don’t lose any of that weight and I’m in the final week of the season, I can lose all of that at once to get to that weight and no one is tracking me,” Jenkins said.
But Jenkins said he will not be big on weight this season.
He will encourage his athletes to wrestle where they are healthy.
“We don’t have an elite team where I really need guys at certain weights and they are really pushing for it,” Jenkins said.
But the Centaurs (4-9, 2-4 in Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II last season) already have a bit of a weight issue.
He has a host of his wrestlers “clumped” at 145 and 152 pounds.
“They are very talented, it’s not like there is a discernable JV and varsity line. There is no definite 145 or 152 so we will have to see how that plays out,” Jenkins said.
The Centaurs did lose a pair of talented wrestlers near those weights last year as both Edwin Sandoval (145 pounds) and Caleb Bowen (160) graduated.
Tyler Mathieu is right now listed as varsity at 145 while Peter Spada, who has come down about two weight classes from last season, is 152.
Abraham Cooke is a team captain at 132 pounds and Jenkins thinks he has a chance to place at both the ECC and State championship level.
Ben Holden, who tried basketball first, but quickly switched to wrestling is also a captain and will wrestle at 160 pounds.
“He spent a lot of time over the (summer) working. He went to the Silverback wrestling club (in Willimantic) and that offseason time pays dividends for all wrestlers. I hope my whole team begins to understand because there is only so much you get out of a 2 ½ - 3 month season and practicing for 2-3 hours a day and those practices aren’t specialized. They are very generalized,” Jenkins said.
The Centaurs do have some strength in the lower weights with Kellen Horst at 106 pounds and Aedan Noel at 113.
Elliot Hellwig will wrestle at either 126 or 132 with Seth Correia at 195 and Danylo Ntamwemezi at either 220 pounds or heavyweight.
The Centaurs also have five other wrestlers who will rotate between JV and varsity.
“The turnout was decent. We had 18 to start, we’re down to about 16,” Jenkins said.
That means the Centaurs will have most weights covered although they will likely give up about 12-18 points per match in forfeits.
“We’re going to have some tough opponents. If I can finish the season at .500, I will be happy. That would be a good win ratio for us if we could pull that out,” Jenkins said. “I think Woodstock has suffered from (coaching) continuity over the years. I’m hoping that this will change the direction. They are quickly becoming accustomed to my coaching style which, to the outside perspective, might be boring because I’m very regimented and our practices look the same every day. But do you think that Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods don’t practice the fundamentals? We spend a lot of time drilling the fundamentals,” Jenkins said.
All of the Woodstock Academy home matches will take place in the former gymnasium of the Hyde School on what is now the South Campus of The Academy.
The Academy recently purchased new, lightweight mats, which can be rolled out and rolled up by one person.
“I asked the team in a meeting what was the most important thing the program needed and they all said a new mat. This is a really nice mat,” Jenkins said with a smile.
The wrestling room will also be improved over the course of the season.
Woodstock Academy wrestling schedule
Wed., Dec. 13: at Killingly 6 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 16: at Battle of the Bay (at Tabor Academy) TBA
Wed., Dec. 20: vs. New London 6 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 23: at RHAM duals 9 a.m.
Wed., Dec. 27: vs. Lyman/Windham Tech 6 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 30: at Killingly duals 9 a.m.
Wed., Jan. 3: at East Lyme 6 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 6: at Nonnewaug Invitational 9 a.m.
Wed., Jan. 10: at Bacon Academy 6 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 13: at Griswold Invitational 9 a.m.
Wed., Jan. 17: vs. St. Bernard/Norwich Tech 6 p.m.
Sat., Jan 20: vs. Pomfret TBA
Wed., Jan. 24: at Ledyard 6 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 27: at St. Bernard/Norwich Tech Invite 9 a.m.
Wed., Jan. 31: vs. Waterford 6 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 3: Centaur Invitational 9 a.m.
Fri., Feb. 9: ECC championship at St. Bernard 4 p.m.
Sat., Feb 10: ECC championship at St. Bernard 9 a.m.
Fri, Feb. 16: Class M state championship 4 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 17: Class M state championship 9 a.m.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
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