Wrestling returns to Herkimer: How the Magicians built a new team, and why
HERKIMER - Prior to this winter season, Dan Appley had wrestled the final match in the green and white of the Herkimer Magicians. The 2015 graduate, now a teacher at his alma mater, is coaching a resurrected program for the first time in 2023-24.
"My voice is a little more strained than before," Appley said after a dual meet Tuesday against Mt. Markham, "but we're getting there. We're getting there."
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Appley, Section III's Class C and Division II 285-pound champion as a senior and a state finalist that year, has returned to his high school as a physical education teacher and coach. He is now coaching a young varsity wrestling team, something the school had not had the previous eight years.
"We had kids wrestle with Little Falls last year," Appley said. "We've got 13, 14 kids this year. It's growing now that it's back home."
Freshman Braysen Richard and sophomore Ross Richard wrestled for Little Falls last winter and got an introduction to the varsity level of competition. Braysen has competed at 145 and 152 pounds this season after placing third at the section's Class C meet and reaching the finals of the Center State Conference at 118 as an eighth-grader last year. Ross won one match at 215 at the class tournament; he also competed at 285 as a freshman and has wrestled at that weight so far this season.
The Richards — Braysen, Ross and seventh-grader Gunnar — are well represented on a roster with seniors Michael Goodson, Kevin Gregory, Pete Mosny, Max Polus, Zoey Caldwell and Colin Hart with one junior, four more sophomores, six other freshmen and a second seventh-grader. Gunnar Richard and Aldin Covic, the two youngest Magicians and the lightest weights in the lineup, started Tuesday's dual against Mt. Markham with pins in the first two matches, and Braysen Richard's pin put Herkimer up 24-6 before Mt. Markham wrestlers recorded pins in the final four contested bouts and won the meet 42-24.
Getting started sent the Magicians to the proverbial Square 1. Herkimer sold its mats after dropping the sport, and Appley reached out to a nearby district for help; Mt. Markham has loaned the team one of its backup mats, and the teams competed on a blue "Mustangs" mat in the Herkimer gym when Mt. Markham visited Tuesday.
Appley and assistant coach Zack Steele, a high school classmate and fellow faculty member, are assistant football coaches and see the potential appeal of wrestling for members of that team.
"It's good for football, and we got a lot of football players to come out," Appley said. "We invited them to give it a try, to see if they like it with no commitment, and nobody has left."
While Herkimer is back in wrestling action, Poland remains inactive for a second season. Poland entered tournaments during the 2008-09 season and contested a full schedule starting the following year. The program has been without a coach after Mark Harlander took a position at another district following the 2021-2022 academic year.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Herkimer reactivates wrestling program after seven-year layoff
