By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com

MCPHERSON – The 2020-21 season as McPherson High wrestling coach Doug Kretzer puts it, ‘was full of challenges and craziness’ thanks to the Covid Pandemic.

Despite the challenges, the noticeably young Bullpup boys and girls wrestlers prevailed with some successes as the boys finished third in the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League while the Lady Bullpup grapplers took first.

Both the Bullpup boys and Lady Bullpup wrestling teams will have to replace three graduated letter winners, but both will be highly competitive beginning in practice as the Bullpup wrestling program is busting its seams with over seventy kids out for the sport this season.

Coach Doug Kretzer begins his twenty-sixth season with the program and his eleventh as the head coach. He will have ten varsity letter winners back for the Bullpup boys, including state qualifiers Gavin Richardson and Brock Burgess.

For the Lady Bullpups, Coach Kretzer welcomes back eight letter winners that includes four state qualifiers. Heading up the state qualifiers will be Holli Giddings who placed third at the state meet last year while Ame Hale, Arriana Gross, and Erin Kutina also gained valuable state tournament experience.

The outlook is bright and as Coach Kretzer reflected on the upcoming season he noted, “We’ve got substantial numbers on both the boys and girls teams. Competition will be stiff just to be a varsity wrestler. We should be a highly competitive dual team, but we must remember we are still noticeably young with just six seniors total being on the current rosters.”

The Lady Bullpup and Junior Varsity wrestlers will kick off the season on Saturday, December 4 when they host an invitational while the varsity folks hit the mats for the first time on Friday and Saturday, December 10 and 11 at the always competitive Colby Invitational.

Here is a complete summary of the upcoming 2021-22 season for the McPherson Bullpup Wrestlers:

MCPHERSON BULLPUPS OPENING MONTH OF THE 2021-22 SEASON =

Saturday, December 4 = Lady Bullpup/Junior Varsity host Invitational

Friday, December 10 = Bullpup Varsity at Colby Invitational

Saturday, December 11 = Bullpup Varsity at Colby Invitational

Saturday, December 11 = Lady Bullpup/Junior Varsity at Great Bend

Thursday, December 16 = Varsity/Lady Bullpups/Junior Varsity at Winfield

Friday, December 17 = Lady Bullpup/Junior Varsity at Abilene Invitational

Saturday, December 18 = Bullpup Varsity at Abilene Invitational

WHAT YOU GET WITH BULLPUP WRESTLING HEAD COACH DOUG KRETZER =

  • Coach Doug Kretzer is in his 26th season with the McPherson High School program and his in his 11th season as the head coach.
  • Coach Kretzer holds a dual record of 92-48 in that time.
  • In 2020-21, Coach Kretzer led the Bullpup boys to a 4-5 record and 3rd place in the AVCTL.
  • In 2020-21, Coach Kretzer led the Lady Bullpup wrestlers to a 2-0 record and 1st place in the AVCTL.
  • Coach Kretzer will be assisted by Aaron Dibbens, Jerry Bowen, Kaden Kretzer, and Ethan Fowler – all former Bullpup wrestlers.

BULLPUP WRESTLERS WHO GRADUATED/TRANSFERRED =

Bullpup Boys =

  • Landon Vogts
  • Neil Raymond
  • Devin Frantz

Lady Bullpups =

  • Riley Baker
  • Aubree Martens
  • Catalina Palacios

KEY RETURNING BULLPUP WRESTLERS FOR 2021-22 =

Bullpup Boys Returnees =

  • Brock Burgess = state qualifier
  • Treyton Pelnar
  • Lorenzo Cruzen
  • Hayden Farley
  • Collin Pearson
  • Gavin Richardson = state qualifier
  • Landon Thompson
  • Caden Burris
  • Curtis Landrum
  • Conner McVicker

Lady Bullpup Returnees =

  • Ame Hale = state qualifier
  • Braelynn Patterson
  • Arriana Gross = state qualifier
  • Addyson Senecal
  • Shaylee Scheetz
  • Holli Giddings = state qualifier; placed 3rd at state meet.
  • Hunter Wilson
  • Erin Kutina = state qualifier

INCOMING WRESTLERS TO PAY ATTENTION TO =

  • None listed

WHAT COACH DOUG KRETZER HAS TO SAY =

On the 2020-21 season = “Covid created multiple challenges, but we were a young team that continued to get better and compete hard. I’m proud of how our kids persevered during last season’s craziness.”

Looking at the 2021-22 season for the boys = “We’ve got substantial numbers on both the boys and girls teams. Competition will be stiff just to be a varsity wrestler. We will be an extremely competitive dual team; remember we are still an incredibly young team with only three senior boys out.”

Returnees for 2021-22 boys = “We returnee two state qualifiers in Brock Burgess and Gavin Richardson. We also have a solid group of youngsters who earned letters last season and look for significant improvement this season with Treyton Pelnar, Lorenzo Cruzen, Hayden Farley, Collin Pearson, Landon Thompson, Caden Burris, Curtis Landrum, and Conner McVicker.”

Returnees for 2021-22 Lady Bullpup wrestlers = “Like with the boys, we have just three seniors on the girls team, and we do return four state qualifiers from last season including Holli Giddings who finished third at the state meet. Other state qualifiers returning are Ame Hale, Arriana Gross, and Erin Kutina, plus we return letter winners Braelynn Patterson, Addyson Senecal, Shaylee Scheetz, and Hunter Wilson.”

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