NEW MARKET - Southmont's wrestling team has one of its thinnest senior classes in coach Jamie Welliever's long-standing tenure.
With just two seniors, the Mounties are low on veterans and experience.
They have eight upperclassmen overall, including just six on the team's 12-member starting line-up.
"We're very young and talented," Welliever said. "We're going to have to get the best leadership out of the underclassmen we have. They've got it. They just have to develop it a little bit."
Southmont (0-0) opens its season at 6:30 p.m. today in a home meet against Covington. The Mounties have two meets this week, including Saturday's Western Boone Invitational.
But four-time defending county champion Southmont won't have that dominant, experienced wrestler or veteran senior group this year.
The Mounties' two Indiana High School Athletic Association State and New Castle Semistate qualifiers from a year ago are gone. State qualifier Nick Hodges (189 pounds, 31-3, fifth-place) graduated and senior and semistate qualifier Nathan Whitlow (140, 31-4) is no longer with the team.
That leaves only two seniors - Cody Haslam (171) and Steven Simpson (119) - on this year's squad.
Haslam missed half of last season because of a knee injury. Simpson is a three-year starter, having wrestled at 119 pounds each of the past two seasons.
Simpson finished in third place in last year's conference meet and fourth place in last year's IHSAA Crawfordsville Sectional.
They also have juniors Jesse Martin (heavyweight), Cole Wills (160) and up-and-coming sophomore Dylan Rogers (up a weight class to 112) to provide key leadership.
"Jesse has bulked up. He had a great football season and is ready to go," Welliever said. "Cody and Steven, as seniors, have done a great job. They're great examples and super kids."
Rogers won the 103-pound title at last year's county meet, placed second at the IHSAA Crawfordsville Sectional and finished fifth in the conference meet.
But with Rogers now in the 112-pound slot, the Mounties will be without a 103-pound wrestler to start the season.
They'll have to forfeit that weight class in their first couple of matches.
Southmont will also have four wrestlers - junior Vince McCaslin (135), sophomore Dakota Davis (140) and freshmen Landon Nave (125) and Dan Barrett (130) - compete on the varsity level for the first time in their careers.
Although that's a high number, Welliever remains confident they can hold their own.
"The freshmen beat everybody in dual meets last year [in eighth grade]. Two years ago, they won the conference title in junior high," Welliever said. "The kids are used to winning."
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