KENNEBUNK — Every year some freshman wrestlers will take the state by storm as they climb onto the podium at some of the biggest tournaments of the season.
This year four of those wrestlers making noise are from the same program as the Kennebunk Rams have counted on their young standouts to succeed on the mat.
Eli Soule, Garrett Dickinson, David York and Trevor Fecko have turned in impressive freshman campaigns — including trips to last weekend’s Class A South regional finals.

Kennebunk coach Steve Young believes some early success at tournaments helped fuel his freshmen’s rise.
“They saw some success early against some quality wrestlers and I think it really sparked something where they said ‘hey, we can hang with these guys. We can roll with these guys, even if they are tough seniors, we can hang with the upperclassmen,’” said Young.
The confidence they gained early in the campaign certainly paid off last weekend as the Rams finished tied for second with Marshwood and behind champion Noble.
“That was huge. I mean there was no way any of us expected that to happen this year. We knew we would probably be better than past years, but it’s been a great surprise all the success we’ve had,” said Fecko, who finished second at 170 pounds last week.
Dickinson, who won the 113-pound title at regionals, was thrilled to share the moment with three of his classmates.
“It’s great because we’ve all been wrestling for a while, so it’s nice to see us all have success at the (varsity) level,” Dickinson said.
The freshmen standouts knew it was going to be a big leap from middle school to competing with varsity wrestlers.
“There’s a lot of newer kids in middle school, but once you get to high school there’s kids that are more dedicated to the sport and want to do well, so it’s a higher level of competition,” said David York, who took second at 132 pounds at regionals. “It’s been tougher, but I feel like I’ve been able to manage well and it hasn’t been a huge drop off. I’m just hoping to get better and just keep working.”
“I mean it’s definitely been a big surprise as far as how fast people are. Back in middle school, being kind of large I could just kind of toss around everyone who was smaller than me, but now it’s definitely a big change wrestling people who are more developed and it’s a lot more technique,” added Fecko.
Soule, who was the runner-up at 106 pounds last week, believes his time in the Kennebunk High wrestling room has helped him improve — especially with defending state champ Alden Shields being one of the team’s leaders.
“It’s good. I don’t think I would be nearly as good as I am without their help … I don’t think I would be good at all if it wasn’t for them,” said Soule.
Dickinson and York have also used their time working with Shields to their advantage.

“I’ve just learned to keep working because he’s been wrestling since kindergarten. He’s put the time in and great things have come … I look up to him,” York said.
“It’s really helpful because in drilling he always tells me stuff that I can improve and watching his matches is really helpful,” added Dickinson.
Young feels the close bond the freshmen — and wrestlers like Shields and Sean Radel — share has helped them succeed on the mat this year.
“I think a credit to what they were able to accomplish is how close the team is. All the kids seem to get along really well. Those four, especially when you add in Alden and Sean, they’ve wrestled for a long time together so they have that camaraderie between each other. When they are all together they can be something special,” Young said.
The Class A state tournament will certainly provide the biggest challenge to date for these four freshman standouts.
“It’s going to be tough,” Soule admitted.
Young believes his young standouts need to stay focused heading into Saturday’s state meet at Cony High School.
“I tell them every match is different. Focus on your first match, once we get through that we’ll talk about your next one,” said Young. “We try to preach to them to be confident, but not overconfident and paint that fine line. Be confident in what you’re able to do, and you’re able to finish your technique and do the things you want to do on the mat, but don’t be overconfident where you get sloppy, make mistakes and that’s where you see kids lose matches they shouldn’t.”
Dickinson echoed that sentiment.
“I just have to keep working. I’ve been working as hard as I can all season, so I’ve just got to keep that going,” said Dickinson.
Despite the stiff competition that will greet the Rams, Young is confident his squad has what it takes to compete with the best teams in the state.
“The (goals) are pretty high. We took second and we had six kids in finals (at regionals). We had the most kids in finals at that tournament and moving forward our goal will be the same,” said Young. “Our goal is to try to push all six back into finals and I think it’s a possibility. The way they’re wrestling, the way they looked (last) weekend, I know some of them had some tough losses in the finals, but I’m confident that they can get there. It’s going to be what they believe and we’ll see what they can do.”
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 780-9017. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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