The Livonia Stevenson Spartans are lead by head coach Dan Vaughan.  Dan is beginning his seventh season at Stevenson.  He will be assisted by Josh Gunterman (7^th season), Dave Scott (3^rd season), and Nick Schaffer (1^st season).

  The Spartans had a deep, veteran squad last year. They posted a winning record (25-16), improved their standing at the Observerland Tournament, and had five wrestlers qualify for individual regionals.

  However, graduation and attrition have severely depleted this team.  All five regional qualifiers graduated; Charlie Kokenakes (140), Jake Burns (171), Dan McCarthy (171), Andrew Schramm (189), and Nathan Keedle (285).  Also gone are starters Sheldon Kabrovich (103), Omar Mostafa (119), Jake Mailloux (145), Chris Arnold (152), and Josh Seibert (160).  “We lost all of our upper weights to graduation last year (140-285).  These guys were hard working and 4 year team members who lead by example.  They continue to work hard in college and are positive mentors for the 2010-2011 team members.” explains Coach Vaughan.

  This year’s team will be totally different from last year, and will be much smaller than in previous years.  Says Vaughan, “There may only be 1 or 2 seniors in the varsity lineup which means many first year grapplers will have to step up in a big way.  This team has no returning Regional, Observeland, or State placers and team captains have not been named.”   Stevenson has historically attracted large numbers each year, but this team’s sophomore class is very small and so far only two freshmen have joined up.  “This will be the first year we will not have a full lineup,” laments Vaughan.

  A key wrestler for the Spartans will be heavyweight Jacob Range.  Jake has been working hard over the summer, participating in national events with Team Michigan and wrestling in the Grappler Fall Classic.  Three other returnees won at least 20 varsity matches last season; Ash Alhaj, Corey Davis, and Kody Roy.  Virtually everyone else on the team has little or no varsity experience.

  With such a small and inexperienced squad, it is way too early to project a starting line-up.  The 20-plus kids who have determined alpha weights mostly fall in the 125-171 pound range, most or all weights above 119 should be filled.  Below is an indication of where the returning varsity lettermen will fall:

103 – ?

112 – ?

119 – ?

125 – Ashruf Alhaj (Sr)

130 – Corey Davis (Jr)

135 – Samer Shebak (Jr)

140 – Kody Roy (So)

145 – ?

152 – ?

160 – Trevor Drengk (Sr)

171 – ?

189 – Joe Scott (Jr)

215 – ?

285 – Jacob Range (Jr)

  “This season will be one of learning and growth” states Coach Vaughan. “The lineup will be completely different from a season ago with only 2 full time varsity wrestlers returning. This season our major team goal will be to improve each week.”