Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

Special contribution to WSN by UW-Stevens Point communications student Jesse Osborne

Talk to anybody associated with the Lancaster wrestling team, and the same two words consistently come up in conversation regarding the Flying Arrows' success on the mat: hard work.

"One of the philosophies we have here at Lancaster is you work hard, and whatever talent and numbers you have in the room is what it is," Flying Arrows coach Brad Sturmer said. "Each year, at the beginning of the season, you have a different group. Sometimes you have different numbers. I have had years where we've had less than 14 (wrestlers) and years with more than 25. You get what you get and there are different levels of talent. ... The one thing that's not a variable with Lancaster wrestling is that we work hard. 

"If you work hard you are going to have success."

And the Flying Arrows certainly enjoyed plenty of success last season.

A Lancaster program that has been consistently competitive through the years experienced a significant breakthrough last season, winning the WIAA Division 3 state team title.

The Flying Arrows -- whose previous team state appearances came in 1999 and 1992 -- return 10 letterwinners from last year's title-winning team, including seven Division 3 state individual meet qualifiers and three individual state champions. 

Last year's level of success, along with the number of those returning, leads many to believe that Lancaster will be in state team tournament mix again this year. The Flying Arrows are ranked No. 1 in the Crossface Magazine Division 3 preseason poll.

"People are going to look at the fact we have seven state qualifiers back. What people don't see is we lost five quality seniors. We're going to have a hard time replacing them," Sturmer said. "We have some good talent this year. We don't have the greatest numbers, but we can guarantee 100 percent that we're going to work hard and see what happens." 

When looking at this year's 19-wrestler Lancaster team, it's only natural to start by focusing on the three returning state champions: junior Cole Martin, senior Trenton Cornell and senior Ethan Soderstrom. 

Martin finished 51-4 last season as a sophomore en route to winning the Division 3 state title at 120 pounds. 

A state runner-up at 106 pounds as a freshman, Martin registered 192 takedowns last season to set the program's single-season record, and he needs 72 takedowns to surpass Brad Moore as the program's all-time leader in that category.  

Martin's start to this season, though, will be delayed after he suffered a broken bone in his leg during the Lancaster football team's deep run in the WIAA playoffs. Martin is hopeful to be back in action at some point in January.

"He'll be back with a vengeance. He's a kid who loves to wrestle. ... And it will be exciting when he gets back," Sturmer said of Martin, who scored 32 of his victories last season via pin. "He's got the passion for the sport. He's very knowledgeable. He's got a lot of mat time in his life. ... Just a great kid. He's about all you can ask for as far as a coach goes. He'll be fun to watch when he gets back because he'll be hungry." 

Cornell, meanwhile, finished 39-6 on his way to an individual title at 145 pounds last season, one year after finishing as the state runner-up at 138. Fifteen of his victories came via pin, and his 91 takedowns last year ranks as the fourth-highest single-season total in school history. Cornell also accumulated 34 escapes last season, and he needs 20 escapes this year to become Lancaster's all-time leader in that statistic. 

"He's got a great mat presence," Sturmer said of Cornell. "When he needs to score, he can turn it up another level. A lot of his strength is being a combination wrestler and going from one move to another. No matter what position he's in on the mat, he knows what to do." 

Soderstrom capped a 51-4 season last year with his second straight individual state title, adding a crown at 160 pounds to the title he won at 152 as a sophomore. Thirty of those victories last season came via pin, and the 356 team points he scored last year is a program single-season record. 

"Ethan's just a beast. He's just strong. It's impressive how strong he is, and then he's got the athletic ability to go along with it," Sturmer said. "He's hard to beat. If he's wrestling the way he's capable of in any match, it's hard to imagine anybody at the Division 3 level being able to beat him."

The Flying Arrows also have four other state qualifiers back, a group that includes Tyson Wolf (37-13 last year at 106 pounds), Kyle Mezera (50-6 at 126), Daniel Rice (32-11 at 132) and David Chadd (48-9 at 170). Chadd finished third at individual state last year, while Mezera finished fifth. 

"That group of seven pretty much sets the tone in practice," Mezera said. "We'll be at practice and we'll be battling. If that group of seven is going hard and beating each other up, the whole room is upbeat and has a fast-paced, knock-you-down kind of atmosphere."

The challenge for this year's version of the Flying Arrows, however, will be to incorporate some new faces into the lineup and fill in some of the spots -- particularly at the heavier weights -- that were vacated by last year's group of seniors. 

"We've got the individual guys back, but it's a matter of working with the other kids. That's how you win a team championship -- having 14 guys and having some depth behind them," Sturmer said. "You don't win a state team championship with seven guys in a 14- (weight class) meet. We're excited to have those seven guys back, no doubt. But it's the other seven who are keys for us to be able to do it again." 

And there is little doubt that competing for another state team title is the ultimate goal for the Flying Arrows this season, although it isn't necessarily something that's spoken about all that much as the season gets started. 

"Goals are something that everyone knows, whether it is talked about or not," Cornell said. "It's not really talked about in the wrestling room, but it's kind of in everyone's mind. It's a goal that you know you are working for."

But there's a lot of work to do -- and plenty of wrestling yet to take place -- before a potential return trip to Madison even begins to come into focus for the Flying Arrows. 

"Something I'll preach all year is that we'll want to peak at the end of the year," Sturmer said. "It's not that we can't do that, but there's a lot of hard work that's got to happen. They know very well that we're a long way from where we need to be, and even thinking about truly reaching for that state team title, we've got to get ourselves in line and get everything moving in the same direction."