Mavericks mat men and women ready for the season
Kaydence Brooks is one of Lady Mavericks wrestlers for the 2023-24 season. She partici- pated in the preseason individual matches at Bearden High School last Saturday. (photo:Tony Cox )
“We feel pretty good about our team this year,” said Slone, who begins his 12th season as the Mavericks’ head coach. “We may not have some guys get down to their weight until after Christmas when they give them the two-pound allowance, so we’ll have some guys at different spots early. But once we get everybody where they should be, then we should be pretty good.
“Some years, we’ve had full teams, but we’ve had a guy in a spot that has never wrestled before. This year, everybody has some wrestling experience, whether it be in middle school or high school.”
Things will be different for Anderson County this year, however. The Mavericks, who competed in Class AA (the large schools division) last year, have moved to Class A, the small schools
“We moved to the small schools division this year and we will make up our region, and we’ll be in there with Gibbs, Clinton, Pigeon Forge and Seymour will be with us,” Slone said.
State dual-meet and traditional state champion Knoxville Halls has moved to Class AA, and the Mavericks took the Red Devils’ place in the region.
“Halls moved up to large schools, and we basically replaced them,” Slone said. “And I can’t say that I’m too unhappy about that, but them winning that state championship was huge.”
The Mavericks have four seniors on this year’s roster, including Emery Presson (144) and Josh Bingham (165).
Top sophomores are Max Wolfley (138 pounds) and Evan Prewitt (157).
Key newcomers include Edmund Presson (a freshman 120-pounder) and Kyden Matchette (a freshman who will compete in the 126 pound division).
Slone said he’s expecting some football players to come out and fill some spots in the upper weight divisions.
“I have a verbal commitment from some guys; we’ll see if they decide to come out,” Slone said. “We’ll need some football guys to come out for heavyweight that we didn’t have last year.”
The Mavericks will open the regular season at home on Nov. 30 as they host Clinton and Pigeon Forge. Weigh-ins will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Lady Mavs return three seniors: ACHS has three returning seniors and all made deep postseason runs, but came up short of qualifying for the state tournament.
Emily Fairbanks will compete in the 107-pound weight division. Brianna Merryfield and Kennley Reid will both be middleweights, although their exact spot on the ladder isn’t known at this point.
“Brianna and Emily were one match away from being state qualifiers, and the girl that beat Kennley went to state, so we’re hoping to have a girl make it to state for the first time in school history,” Slone said. “We’ll probably have between six and 10 girls this year, but it’s kind of like the football guys. They’ve come to practice a few times, but we don’t know if they’re really going to come out.”