Captains getting Bedan grapplers ready for battle

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PERU — For St. Bede Bruin wrestling coach Blair Tiger, the Academy’s wrestling program is fitting into its own skin. The top-floor wrestling belfry is matted and has received a couple coats of paint, and the room is being occupied by veteran as well as rookie prep wrestlers looking to keep a fledgling program on the upside.

During a Nov. 20 practice, 19 Bruins prepared for the season opener against the Princeton Tigers with wrestle-offs and drills that are putting the edge on newer wrestlers. But SBA’s grappling tri-captains, seniors Dan Rucinski, J.P. Tiger and Steve Puhr are mat veterans, letter winners, and they expect to win this winter.

Coach Tiger is impressed with what his captains stand for and their work ethic this fall, especially during early morning workouts.

“My captains have taken a leadership role, and four mornings a week, we have captain’s practice from 6:30 to 7:15 a.m.,” said the fourth-year Bruin wrestling coach. “It is a combination of weight-lifting and running. Then they get in the pool once a week for swimming conditioning. I’m very impressed with my captains to take the initiative and balance enthusiasm with a little bit of judgment, and frankly, I couldn’t ask for more.”

Tiger also couldn’t ask for more from Rucinski who will be trying to grind deep into the prep wrestling tournament in February.

“He’s probably our best wrestler,” Tiger says of Rucinski. “Last year, he was a regional runner-up. He won a match and lost a match at sectionals. This year, we expect him to be a regional champion. He expects that; that’s his first goal. We’re in the Princeton regional, so he wants to go back and win there. He’s a good wrestler; we expect great things out of him. He’ll be the guy that steps out and sets the tone for us.”

Seniors Rucinski, Tiger and Puhr will have some company as classmates Jake Franklin and Matt Gualandri are senior newcomers to the program. From the junior class, Tiger will be relying on a couple of mat vets for assistance.

“Among the juniors, there is great potential in Dave Young who is a letter winner,” said Coach Tiger. “He’s about the same weight as last year. He wrestled at 130 last year; he’ll wrestle at 135 this year.”

On the sophomore level, look for an athletic Joe Mauch to fill a lightweight slot at 119 pounds, but like many high school wrestling squads, the SBA coaching staff is having trouble finding bodies to fill a number of lineup slots.

“We’re still recruiting a heavyweight, and we don’t have a 103-pounder right now,” Tiger said. “The 103-pound spot is really tough to fill.”

As for goals, Tiger’s list continues to grow from year-to-year.

“I expect all my captains to qualify for sectionals,” Tiger said of his three senior captains. “We expect them to place and move on.”

One of the goals is squarely facing Coach Tiger in the face – that goal has to do with numbers, and his roster projections for the next years are lofty.

“Resources-wise, its going great. The room has grown a lot during the past four years. We’ve added the blue man (a take-down dummy), but the only thing I haven’t got is that I want 40 wrestlers on this floor,” he said. “We really need to grow to 40. That would do a couple of things for us. We could have different partners every day. And we could fill all the weight classes. Wrestling is a numbers game, and we want to fill all the weight classes.” 

The Bruins kicked off the season Nov. 24 at Princeton, facing the Tigers for the first time, and could develop another possible rivalry between St. Bede wrestlers and the new Putnam County wrestling squad. SBA tackles that new program Thursday.

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