MORGANTOWN — It’s been 30 years since Ken Maisel started coaching wrestling at University High School.
During those three decades, a lot has obviously changed.
“I went to the first wrestling practice as a volunteer (in 1993) and practice was held in the gym lobby in the old school,” Maisel said. “We had to put mats on the wall and there was one mat down on the floor to wrestle on. I was watching and thought we must practice JV first and then varsity. Nope, that was the varsity that was practicing.”
Maisel took over as the Hawks’ head coach during the 1995-96 season and had zero wrestlers qualify for the state tournament.
Fast forward to the early spring of 2024 and Maisel guided his team to a break-through victory at the state tournament. A team state title that saw the Hawks finally push past some of the best wrestling programs in the state.
“That was a culmination of many years,” Maisel, who also teaches at UHS, said. “This is not a wrestling town. What we had to do and what we still struggle to do is to have that culture at the school. I don’t have a ton of kids that say ‘my dad wrestled.’ We had to build that and now that is starting to change.”
The change started when Maisel took over and also when he started a junior program of which he is starting to reap the benefits.
“We have kids going to clubs and wrestling out of season now,” Maisel said. “We started with maybe one kid a year doing that and now most of the kids are wrestling during the offseason.”
Senior Pepper Martin, who won the state title at 106 pounds last year, is a glaring example of this offseason approach. Maisel said Martin is the epitome of what it takes to become successful on the mat.
“He was on our JV in middle school and his freshman year he was on the JV,” Maisel said. “He wasn’t really standing out but then he did everything right in the offseason and by the time he was a sophomore he was a big contributor for us.”
Martin said he wrestled in 92 matches during the offseason between his freshman and sophomore years.
“I didn’t like losing any more,” Martin said. “I was on JV, and I couldn’t break into the varsity lineup. I thought I was better than that and I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.”
Martin, a senior this year, certainly did as he won the title last year at 106 and will be a favorite this season to win at 113. He is one of 10 returning wrestlers for the Hawks who placed at the state tournament last year.
Other returning state placers for UHS are junior Kaden Nieman (120 pounds), junior Colton Gillespie (126), junior Timmy Husk (138), senior Carter Pauley (150), senior Ryder Ludrosky (157), junior Emerson Murphy (175), junior Ryder Hastings (190), senior Jackson Pate (215) and senior Brock Kehler (285).
Kehler, who has signed to wrestle at WVU, is looking to become the first UHS wrestler to win four individual state championships.
“I knew he was going to be really good,” Maisel said. “But when someone is 14 or 15 as a freshman and they are that size – he isn’t wrestling at 106 – he wrestled at 195 as a freshman. He was wrestling against some very experienced wrestlers. But he proved he is the best.”
Kehler said he had a goal as a freshman to win four state titles and it is something he has been chasing his entire high-school career. He has also suffered just one loss during his prep career and has a goal of continuing his streak of not giving up a point at the state tournament.
“I want to win another team state title,” Kehler said. “That has been our goal from the first practice that we talked about. I am going to try to help lead this team and be there with anything they need.”
The Hawks open their season on Friday, Dec. 6 when they travel to Norm Maisel Wrestling tournament in Amityville, NY. This tournament is named for Ken Maisel’s father who was a long-time high school coach in that area. UHS has won the tournament the last couple of years but will face the No. 1 team in Long Island, North Babylon, during this tournament.
— Story by Eric Herter
