By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Tenth-year Garfield wrestling head coach Dan Andel realizes he has a very young team this season, but that does not mean a complete rebuild for the G-Men.

“We’ve won three of the first four Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference tournament titles, including last year,” Andel said. “I feel we have a legitimate shot of winning the MVAC again.

“We also have a chance to have multiple wrestlers competing in Columbus in March,” he added.

Garfield will try to withstand the loss to graduation of two-time Division III state champion Keegan Sell, as well as Vince D’Amico, Aiden Kissell and Deacon Sommer.

Pacing the G-Men this season will be sophomore Landon Andel, who will likely compete in the 138-pound weight class. He is the younger brother of Hunter Andel, Garfield’s first state champion two seasons ago, who is currently wrestling for Kent State University.

“Landon is a strong competitor and wrestles throughout the off-season,” the elder Andel said. “Last year was his first year in high school, wrestling at 126, which was a competitive weight class. He did fairly well. He placed in some of the major tournaments we competed in and was one match short of wrestling in Columbus. I look for him to be a competitor at the state tournament this season.”

Two other middleweights who could make serious waves this season are sophomore Logan Sell (Keegan’s brother) and senior Kaleb Lewicki.

They will likely battle it out for the 150-pound weight division — and both are returning lettermen.

“Logan is making his way into the middleweights,” Andel said. “As he grows and matures, I think we’ll see him filling his brother’s shoes. Last season was a huge improvement for Kaleb, so I look for him to continue to develop and be a competitive wrestler this year.”

Two lightweights who could make some noise are junior Cam Lewicki (Kaleb’s brother) and sophomore Luke Kaufman. Both were district qualifiers last year.

Lewicki will probably jump from the 106-pound weight class from last season to 113 this year, while Kaufman will likely compete at 126.

“I have high expectations for Cam. He’s a veteran wrestler, very competitive,” the coach said. “I think he’s got an opportunity to punch his ticket to the state tournament if everything goes well at one of those lighter weights. Luke did well at most of our major tournaments last year. As he continues to grow, I think we should see some good things from him.”

Senior Harper Troyer will lead the upper weights. A district qualifier last season, he will either compete at 175 or 190, likely 190.

“Harper is another wrestler we have high expectations for,” said Andel. “I think he’ll continue to do well and expect to see him at the state tournament.”

Andel hopes that sophomore returning lettermen Griffin Kline and Max Bultrowicz find a way into the lineup somewhere.

The team’s  assistant coaches are Ken Sell, John Bond, Timmy Sommer and Jeff White.

Garfield will open the season at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 12 before traveling to Middlefield Cardinal on Saturday, Dec. 14.