Sports - OnLine
Wrestling
Underclassmen Seek to Fill Gaps 
Left by Departed Seniors

By Tony Clark (December 20, 2002)

With outstanding wrestlers Joey Cohe, Josh Singer and John Henry Pitas graduated, this year’s George Mason wrestlers are looking to rebuild. The team definitely has some gaps to fill, but it also has an array of talented young people that, with time, will become serious contenders.
 

Practices started November 15 and the team, which numbers 30 students on JV and varsity combined, has been working hard ever since. This year’s coaches are John Pitas, Rick Heupel, Terry O’Grady, and newcomer Paul Glodzick as the conditioning and weight-training coach. The weight classes are not officially set yet, but there look to be some spots open in the 112 and 215-pound weight classes.

Freshmen Michael Coleman, John Hillegass, and Nick Pitas have an entire high school career ahead of them in which to master their moves. Freshman William Hoover also looks to have a lot of promise, according to his coaches.

Younger team members also have quite a few rising juniors to look up to. One of the leaders on the team, junior Mackie Cohe, will be trying to take the place of his brother Joey out on the mat, along with fellow juniors Devlan Melancon, Zack Schwind, Andrew Hippolet, Tim Quintyn and Colin Emer. These will be the people to watch during their first A and AA division matches at Manassas Park, this Saturday, December 21st. In the same tournament last year, they managed to place second against long-time rivals Manassas and Clarke County.
Practicing their wrestling holds even
during lunch break, wrestlers Tim 
Quentin (bottom) and Peter Dittmar
anticipate a strong season for the 
Mason Wrestling team 
(Photo by John Ruffino)

The team hopes to be a contender in the district championships, but with so many younger members, the coaches realize that this might prove difficult. Junior wrestler Tim Quintyn said, "I hope that we do well. Other district teams expect a lot out of us, since we did so well last year. All we can do is try to do our best to live up to the Mason name."