Rebuilding Year Continues for Mount Greylock Wrestlers

WILLIAMSTOWN -- The Mount Greylock wrestling team ended up on the plus side of Wednesday's dual match with Mount Everett.

 

But for the Mounties' coach, the score was took a backseat to the process.

 

After dropping two Berkshire County meets to Monument Mountain and falling out of contention for a league title, the Mounties are competing for pride and for the future. And that future looked bright on Wednesday when Mount Greylock picked up four pins on the way to a  47-23 win over the Eagles.

 

"We're pretty young this year," Mount Greylock coach Ray Miro said. "Things started off well, but the reality is, we're young. That's something that usually catches up with you, and it has.

 

"But we're having a great season, considering these kids are so young. I'm happy for them. We're doing alright."

 

Miro played with the lineup a little on Wednesday to get some experience for a couple of his grapplers, and they made the most of it. At 106, Robert Sutter made a rare start and pinned Charles Kerzner at 3 minutes, 18 seconds.

 

At 152, Corbin Richardson, who was wrestling up in weight class, got a first-period pin agaisnt Sergio Wilson.

 

Other pins for the Mounties Wednesday came from Roy Malone at 126 and Devin Pelletiere at 138.

 

There were just eight contested weight classes in the varsity match, and none of them went the distance.

 

The Mounties got a technical fall from C.J. Lillie at 145. The Eagles got pins by Pat Fosby (113) and Nick Tombough (182) and a technical fall by Brad Lupiani at 126.

 

Miro said he was glad to be able to give Sutter a chance to step in for Mount Greylock's regular 106, Jude Rorke.

 

"Jude was fine with it," Miro said. "Every kid wants to wrestle, but he understood, and he was happy for Robert."

 

And Miro was happy to see all his grapplers on the mat -- win or lose.

 

"Even a couple of our kids who lost, they're making progress," he said. "That's why we coach. You do see some progress -- some of the maneuvers, maybe a tweak here or there."

 

Most of this year's Mounties will continue to benefit from Miro's coaching when the season ends; the team graduates just two seniors. He hopes that a few of the returnees put the time in during the off-season to get ready for 2014-15.

 

"I've been coaching a lot of years, and we haven't had a lot of kids work in the off-season," Miro said. "There are so many distractions.

 

"They have to do some work in the off-season. Just because you have kids coming back, it doesn't guarantee success. You have to improve upon yourself. Because if you are behind when the season ends, and you come back the next year and you haven't done anything, you're still behind. And if the other kid is working, you're even further behind."

 

Miro is not looking ahead much further than the Western Massachusetts tournament, where he hopes to see his wrestlers go as far as they can as individuals.

 

But he has started to think about the long-range future.

 

"I'll do one more year," Miro said. "I'd like to retire from teaching after next year. That will be my 40th year. But there's a chance maybe I'll go one more [wrestling season]. I might decide I want to coach one more just to transition out of it.

 

"I enjoy practice. I enjoy the social part of wrestling. The meets -- that's for the kids anyway. They go out and have fun. Win, lose, whatever. Enjoy it because it doesn't last forever.

 

"I know it's winding down. It's just time to do something a little different. They need someone younger anyway. I'm getting pretty long in the tooth."