WELLS — The Wells wrestling program has had a special run over the last two years as the Warriors won the state team title last February and are rolling this year with a regional championship already in the trophy case.
The Warriors will have a chance to repeat as Class B state champions this weekend — and they will get to do it in their home gym and in front of their always supportive fans.
“It’s going to be huge,” said senior Sean McCormack-Kuhman on Wells hosting states. “I mean our town has always traveled well for all sports, but obviously to have a state tournament at home for everybody to be able to go to it is just awesome for your town and your classmates to come cheer you on. It’s just a big deal.”
McCormack-Kuhman, who was a runner-up at 285 pounds in last week’s regionals, has been one of the Warriors’ leaders along with defending state champion Nolan Potter and two-time state runner-up Mike Wrigley.
Potter is thrilled that his classmates will be able to take in a state tournament, which is often times held hours away from Wells.
“It’s amazing. When I found out last year that we were going to be able to host it this year I mean it’s like a dream come true to be able to wrestle your senior state tournament in your home gym,” said Potter. “It’s just like amazing with the home crowd and all my friends because most of your friends won’t travel to a lot of wrestling tournaments. I mean it’s not like a basketball game or hockey game, but when it’s right in Wells a lot of my friends have told me they’re going to come support me, which is really cool.”
The senior believes the people that come to Wells High School on Saturday will have a great time watching some of the state’s best wrestlers.
“They are going to get a chance to actually see what the state tournament is like which is a very exciting experience. I’m just really excited and happy that we have that opportunity this year,” Potter said.
Wrigley is excited for the opportunity to wrestle in front of his hometown, but he will also enjoy the perks of hosting the state meet.
“It’s perfect … it’s just like we wanted to go out with a bang in our own gym,” said Wrigley. “It’s great because, first of all, you don’t have to get up early and travel — like last year we had to go all the way to Bucksport, so you can kind of sleep in a little bit, be more focused and you’ll have all the hometown people there to cheer you on, so it’s good.”
The three seniors were a key reason why the Warriors racked up 206 points in last weekend’s Class B South regional meet and outpaced second-place Mountain Valley by 74 points.
“It was obviously a good experience getting ready for states … to win it as a team for the second year in a row is obviously a big thing for me,” said McCormack-Kuhman, who dropped a 7-6 decision to Madison’s Seth Padelford in the finals. “It didn’t really go the way I wanted at the end, but you know I think I learned from that match and I’ll be more prepared next week.”
Wrigley, who finished second at 195 last week, was proud of the Wells squad which advanced 13 of its wrestlers to the state tournament.
“It was great. We came out and did what we wanted to do — send a lot of people to the state tournament,” said Wrigley. “I think we have 13 kids going and we had 11 in the finals at regionals. It’s really great when a team can go out and dominate like we did.”
Wrigley credits Wells coach Scott Lewia with getting the Warriors fired up for the big tournaments.
“He’s a great coach, obviously. They have the Coach of the Year award and I think he should win that every year,” said Wrigley. “He’s a great motivator for our team especially coming into these regional and state tournaments, he always rallies the troops together to win these tournaments.”
Potter won his third regional title last weekend and the trip to Mountain Valley brought back some great memories.
“It was great because actually my first regional title, my sophomore year, was there as well, so it was kind of cool to go back there and kind of finish out regionals on a good note and have a good feeling going into states week,” said Potter, who was happy to get an individual gold, but the team title meant much more. “It felt good to get an individual win, but more importantly a team win, I mean us winning by I think 70 points team-wise, that felt good, too.”
Potter, who won the regional title at 220 pounds, took down Dirigo’s Nolan DeGroot in the finals last weekend and could face him again at states.
“He’s a very good wrestler, he’s very smart,” said Potter, who has also been impressed with DeGroot’s passion for the sport. “I’ve wrestled him a couple times and he’s a really nice guy off the mat, too. You can tell that he really cares about wrestling which is really good for the sport because you get wrestlers that love what they’re doing and they just love being out there. That’s where you get the most passion and the exciting matches.”
McCormack-Kuhman and Wrigley are hoping to learn from their losses at regionals and turn the tables at the state meet.
“It was kind of a wake up call, so to speak,” said McCormack-Kuhman, who was third at states the last two years. “I mean you don’t want to lose again especially when it counts like at the state tournament. I would definitely say (the regional loss) helped me.”
“I just have to do basically what I have been doing … stay focused, watch film on the match I lost, and try to get better this week. Hopefully our team can take home a state title next weekend,” added Wrigley.
McCormack-Kuhman knows that he learned from last year’s state tournament.
“I would say the biggest thing would be taking every match one at a time,” said McCormack-Kuhman. “I feel like last year I kind of looked ahead too much to a possible finals match, and didn’t really look at the opponent that was in front of me, and underestimated him and got beat.”
Potter won a state title last season and has had to deal with the elevated expectations that come with being a defending champ.
“I think this year people are expecting a little bit more after seeing me win last year and they want to see me win this year again,” said Potter, who wants to get back to the top of the podium. “I already have that experience under my belt, I know what it’s like to win, so now I want to get back there again. I want to get to feel what I was able to feel last year winning that state title.”
Potter is hoping to be able to share another team title and a few individual titles with two of his closest friends.
“It’s the dream. I think that’s what the whole team has worked for all year is the idea of being able to win the team state title at home and hopefully have a couple individual champions as well,” said Potter, who called his bond with McCormack-Kuhman and Wrigley “really special.”
“We’ve grown so close these past few years wrestling together. The three of us always worked together. We are very close friends. We hang out outside of school all the time,” Potter added. “I mean we played football together as well and the bond that we have is really special. When they wrestle I almost get more nervous to watch them than I do for myself. I know I’ll be in touch with those guys for the rest of my life.”
Wrigley echoed that sentiment.
“Sean and Nolan are two of my best friends. I’ve played football and wrestled with them for a long time now, I hang out with them all the time, so it would be great if we could win a state championship altogether individually and as a team. It would be something special,” Wrigley said.
An individual state title would be really special for Wrigley, who has finished second in each of the last two seasons.
“It would be great … something I’ve always wanted to do is win a state title in wrestling,” said Wrigley. “You know we won a team title last year and hopefully we get to do that again this year — and it looks like we might be on our way to that, but winning one individually would be really nice after two years of taking second.”
McCormack-Kuhman would love to wrap up his wrestling career by taking home an individual and team gold with his friends and in front of the Wells community.
“I think to do it in your senior year and to win it again as a team and also as an individual, would be a culmination of my wrestling career because I really don’t plan on doing it after high school,” McCormack-Kuhman said.
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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