Horseheads High School boys wrestlers always choose odd when it's time for a coin flip

Updated Apr 1, 2023; Posted Apr 1, 2023 by Andrew Legare

Horseheads High School boys wrestlers always choose odd when it's time for a coin flip. Explained head coach Brett Owen, "We're an odd group."

Owen says that endearingly about a team filled with personality. Horseheads is also an oddity when it comes to the standard of excellence built over the last several years.

The Blue Raiders this season won a fifth consecutive Section 4 Division I team title, a fourth straight Southern Tier Athletic Conference tournament championship, and advanced to the Division I semifinals of the New York state dual-meet tournament for the first time.

Nine Horseheads wrestlers qualified for this weekend's New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships at MVP Arena in Albany. Eight will compete in Division I, with 215-pounder Jonah Lamb sidelined by injury.

Prelims, quarterfinals and wrestlebacks are Friday, with the tournament concluding with finals scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. start Saturday.

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Beyond the state qualifiers are all kinds of success stories among the other 34 wrestlers who finished the season. The roster ranges from athletes who have wrestled their whole lives to those who were introduced to the sport in high school.

"They are all succeeding within the program," head coach Brett Owen said.

A standout part of the team is the encouragement wrestlers provide one another. The energy level is palpable each time a Blue Raider steps on the mat.

"It’s definitely awesome because everybody wants the best out of you and you want the best out of everybody," said senior 285-pounder Seamus Carroll. "It definitely pushes you and everybody else around you. That’s where you can see the most growth, I would say."

When asked about the success, wrestlers point to the collectively strong mindset and the work everyone has put into the sport.

Owen has hammered home the importance of embracing the mental demands of the sport.

"Before big tournaments, we'll all settle down and do some meditation, get our minds in the right place and get ready to wrestle," said senior Lucas Mosher, coming off a football season in which he was third-team all-state in Class A.

"Practice is really all mental. There's a lot of physical and you just have to be mentally prepared, want to be there, want to do it. It makes it so much easier."

Carroll and Mosher will be joined at states by teammates Connor McAllister (101 pounds), Josh Knapp (108), Mason Vanderhoff (108), Gavin Hornsby (131), Coleton Owen (160) and Hunter Lavigne (190).

Owen and Mosher are both seeded seventh, the top seeds among the eight.

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An accomplished coaching staff

This is Owen's seventh season as head coach. Troy Monks, a longtime coach at Elmira and an NCAA Division III national champion at Cortland State, has been his assistant since day one. Former Elmira High sectional champion John Robyck is in his third season as an assistant.

Owen said he and Monks complement each other, adding Monks relates well to the wrestlers while bringing a different coaching style.

"I've only been wrestling for three years and they just help me with everything," Carroll said of the coaches. "My success on the mat is all them, I'd say. Well, mostly them."

Owen, who coached previously at Waverly and the University of Scranton, came into Horseheads with a focus on having intense, physical teams.

"I think the first couple years that was a little bit harder, but a lot of these kids that are on varsity now, I started coaching at youth 10 years ago or something," Owen said. "That has transpired into them knowing the system from day one and really buying into it."

Horseheads has qualified for the state dual-meet tournament since it started in 2018. The Raiders beat Sachem North, 39-27, and Saratoga Springs, 42-18, this year to get to the semifinals for the first time in a watershed moment for the program.

"It was huge getting to that semis match," Mosher said. "Obviously didn't go how we wanted, but being the first team to get there, it felt great. We wanted more out of it though."

Time in the wrestling room and competition have gone hand-in-hand to produce a special season. Horseheads has wrestled around 40 dual meets, including tournaments and competition for its B team, along with several traditional invitationals.

Mosher credited the coaches with helping the wrestlers prepare for big meets and said the busy schedule was pivotal in getting the Raiders primed for the postseason.

Brett Owen pointed to the work many of the wrestlers put in during the offseason