High School Program: May-Sept.5th

Every year the start of school is exciting but this year seems to have a fresh/newness surrounding it.

Before the school year even began we had some coaching changes on the high school level. Coach Andy Gomez left us (on a somber note) his family needed him to move closer to them, southwest of Waco. We can not say enough about Coach Gomez, he was a true program builder and maverick in the advancement of wrestling in Texas. The current strength of the D/FW metro area wrestling programs are a direct correlation to Gomez and other coaches like him. Those men tirelessly worked for years to get us where we are today. Coach Gomez will be greatly missed, and that our prayers are with him and his family.

With the loss of Coach Gomez, the search for a new coach had begun. Many qualified applicants were interviewed; and we think that there is a lot of excitement about the direction of the high school program which allowed us to chose the best applicant of many. In the end, Coach Brian Cook will be filling the vacancy left by Coach Gomez. Coach Cook comes to Wylie by way of Bryan Adams High School in Dallas, where he taught and coached for a year. Previously Coach Cook was competing for the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in Pennsylvania. Coach Cook grew up just outside of Pittsburg and has an extensive wrestling background. He is truly committed to the sport, and is an asset to the continued growth of wrestling in the state of Texas.

The high school team is going to be the strongest team the program's history this year. We return 9 seasoned seniors of which several have a legitimate shot at going deep in the post-season tournaments. The team also has 21 juniors, 10 of which have quality varsity experience. We are excited about the sophomore class as well with 22 returning experienced young men. Without junior high programs our freshman numbers are typically low at this time of the season, with only 3 freshman. However we expect the freshman numbers to increase at the conclusion of football season.

Workouts went well. The team is going through the typical pains of getting back into shape after (many) chose to relax a bit over the summer. Mental toughness and over coming the pain threshhold will be an area of focus over the next several weeks.