Boys wrestling at Grand Ledge High School (GLHS) has once again started up for the season. Coach Mark Buckland is returning for his fifth year as varsity head coach and 16th year in the program. Both varsity and junior-varsity are coached by Buckland.
Coach Buckland had the boys doing pre-season conditioning by running, lifting, and competing in scrimmages to kick off their season. The first scrimmage was held at Lakewood High School on Nov. 27, 2024 and the other on Dec. 30, 2024 at Dewitt High School.
The first official meet was on Dec. 4, 2024 held at Caledonia High School. Two juniors who have been a part of the team since freshman year set personal and team goals for the ‘24-’25 season.
“My goals are to win a state title and to help lead my team to qualify for the team state tournament. We only lost a couple seniors last year so we should be a solid team overall,” junior Eben Abdo said.
Another junior, Logan Tollison, who recently ranked first division 1 at 285 for the ‘24-’25 season, spoke of areas for his personal growth this season.
“My personal goals this year is state champion but for the team, I’d like to make it to states and I expect a state title moving into next year.”
During his sophomore season, Tollison finished second in states and wants to continue to grow as he gets further into high school.
Both players qualified for the ‘23-’24 state championship held at Ford Field as Tollison (215 lbs) finished second in his class and Abdo (120 lbs) with a 1-2 for the day but an overall win of 50-6 for his season. Points scored can range anywhere from 2-15+ and are put toward your ranking individually. 5 points or more won in a match will go towards the team ranking. Points can be won by the following wrestling moves; takedowns, nearfalling, escapes, or reversals.
Districts are February 6th at Grand Ledge’s main high school gym to determine who will move onto states. Team State Finals for the ‘24-’25 year will be held at the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo and Individual State Finals will be held at Ford Field. Both events will take place in February. The boys will have to remain undefeated in districts to move forward to states. In recent years the Comets have worked hard to get where they are now and are determined to leave a mark in the school records.
“This year I expect our team to do pretty well. We are ranked number 9 in the state right now and we wrestle a lot of tough competition this year,” junior Eben Abdo expressed.
