With former head coach Leo Garand moving on to Durango High School, Dane Gallaher takes over as head coach of the Dolores wrestling program after three years as an assistant.
Gallaher and the Bears begin the season with 12 wrestlers on the roster, including two returning state qualifiers.
Last year, the Bears had three wrestlers compete at the state tournament in Guy Wallace, Austin Hackney and Brandon Ward.
Wallace graduated, but Hackney returns as a sophomore after finishing 12-18 last season and Ward returns for his junior year after placing third at state with a 31-12 record.
“He’s a seasoned wrestler, a junior,” Gallaher said of Ward. “There’s no reason he shouldn’t be a state placer again.”
Gallaher also mentioned Dustin Beltran, Skieler Grooms and Gage Reynolds as key contributors.
Beltran was regionally ranked last season and will slide into the 126-pound class this season, while freshman Grooms enters his first year of high school wrestling after placing in the middle school state tournament last year.
Reynolds, a junior, was voted as a team captain along with Ward.
“I’m looking for big things from him,” Gallaher said of Reynolds. “Gage is a really strong young man and should be a state qualifier also.”
The Bears will begin the season this weekend at the Flagstaff Tournament, which Gallaher said is a great way to start the year against high-level competition.
As for his goals for the season, he would like to one-up the team’s results from last year.
“I’d like to qualify four kids to state this year, bump up one, and get two placers this year,” he said.
“But more than that,” he continued, “We’re just trying to instill a culture of gentlemen, and have kids come out of here not only as good wrestlers but as good young men.”