Gettysburg High School has had a long history of successful wrestling programs; this year is no different. The Warriors secured their second District championship in as many years, but with injuries stacking up and stiff state competition, their time in the team state tournament was short-lived. I was lucky enough to grab a few moments of head coach Chris Haines’ time to speak about his program and how he is approaching the end of this season, and the future of the program.
Despite a first-round exit from the team state tournament, Haines is not fixating on what could’ve been. “We had a tremendous season,” he said. “Back-to-back district gold is a huge accomplishment, but the injury bug just hit us at the wrong time.”
Nevertheless, Haines has four wrestlers headed to Hershey this Thursday for the start of the PIAA Individual tournament, with aspirations to bring home some more hardware. Will Yordy at 121, Isaiah Jackson at 133, Myles Grossman (139), and Caden Shearer (152) are making the trip up Route 15 to Chocolate Town.
Grossman has already etched his name in the Gettysburg history books by being the first freshman or sophomore to win district gold and only the second Warrior wrestler to win two district gold medals. He will be a junior next year.
Haines has been using the time between the state tournament and recently concluded sectional as a period for his team to continue working toward what lies ahead. Gettysburg returns 11 of 13 starters from this year’s lineup, so expectations will again be high next season. Haines understands the importance of his younger wrestlers seeing where these state tournaments take place because he wants his team to be back competing instead of watching a few teammates in the years to come.
“Returning most of our wrestlers next season, I want to get them up there to see what Hershey Arena and the Giant Center look like,” he said. “We’re definitely looking for big things in the next two weeks and moving forward in the next two or three years.”
Haines most certainly knows that a great program is built through the offseason, in the weight room, and in the wrestling room. In a sense, the season never really ends.
The best way to get better at wrestling,” he notes, “is to wrestle. Invest your time wisely, be involved in something at all times, if you’re not playing other sports, we fully expect you to be wrestling.”
Coach Haines is quick to point out that past success isn’t a guarantee for the future. There’s a lot of work to be done between now and next November to stay among the top programs in the state. “Yes, we are returning 11 of 13 starters, but there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. We have a lot of ground to cover between now and next November.”
For right now, this week, Coach Haines wants his young men to stay in the moment.
“My favorite time is here and now,” he says. “Focus on the process and growth. We focus on scoring points and feeling good about ourselves and we don’t focus on outcomes.”
Photo courtesy of gettysburgwarriors.com/Kody Godsey
