Head Coach Tom Seremet discusses the mental aspects of the sport with his team. (Charles Rothwell photo)

2010-11 Wrestling Preview:
North Farmington High School

    Tom Seremet has returned for his eighth year as head coach.  Assisting him again will be Brian Rochon (3^rd year) and Chris Gadjev (2^nd year).  Last season, North Farmington had perhaps their best season ever.  The Raiders were City League champions, OAA Division II champions and had an amazing 25-1 dual meet record after winning their team district. 

  Their success was brought about by having solid wrestlers at every weight except 285.  Individually, two Raiders were regional qualifiers, and one was a state qualifier.

  The middle of the North Farmington line-up was hit hard by graduation.  Gone are Matt Jaisle (119, state qualifier), Garrett Fisk (130, regional qualifier), Imran Saqib (135), Matt Russell (145), Nate Cherney (152), and Brian Miller (160).

  This team’s success will rest heavily on four senior captains, John Davis, Courtney Drew, James Huang, and Jordan Russell.  It appears that quite a few varsity spots will be occupied by juniors, although some will have little varsity experience. 

  The most successful last year were Mike Williams (26-19) and Kevin Miller (36-14).  The Raiders have good participation that is fairly evenly distributed amongst freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior classes.  However, only one freshman comes into the program with significant experience.  Jared Redner grew up in Lake Orion and wrestled for eight years before coming to North Farmington.

  Below is an early look at the Raider varsity line-up:

103 – Mike Hoover (Jr) or Jared Redner (Fr)

112 – Mike Hoover (Jr) or Devanier Jacob (So)

119 – Michael Williams (Jr)

125 – Jordan Russell (Sr)

130 – Joe Benjamin (So)

135 – Gabe Lawler (So)

140 – James Huang (Sr)

145 – John Davis (Sr)

152 – Andrew Joseph (Jr)

160 – Gerry Rivkin (Jr)

171 – Kevin Miller (Jr)

189 – Courtney Drew (Sr)

215 – Drew Correll (So), Justin Shelton (So), or Mihail Tchalakov (Jr)

285 – Majd Mokbel (Jr)

  Although this team could not really be considered young, it is inexperienced.  Coach Seremet sees lots of room for improvement during the year and his single goal is to get better every week.  When pressed, he did admit that the city championship and league championship are always goals of the Raider wrestling team.