Merrimack Wrestling Has A Young Team — But Coach Says They’re Ready

MERRIMACK, NH — The Merrimack High School wrestling team was in Concord on Wednesday for a scrimmage between Bow, Concord, and Winnisquam wrestlers, giving the Tomahawks the chance to get some matches in before the season officially starts this week.

Bryan Dine, who has been coaching for about 15 seasons for the Division II team, said they were “really young,” but it was “exciting” for them, too. The team has not quite recovered from the drop in participation when the coronavirus hit in 2020. The team used to have about 30 to 35 wrestlers. It was around 20 a couple of years ago. This season, Dine said, it had built back up. He has 19 freshmen as well as three or four upperclassmen who are new.

“They were like, ‘Hey, I want to try it’,” he said of the upperclassmen.

A handful of the freshmen have wrestled at camps, so they were not wholly inexperienced. But it was their first time wrestling at the high school level, which was a big deal for many of them. About seven or eight wrestlers from the previous years are returning, he said, bringing them close to the ideal team membership.

“We have a lot of kids,” he said. “Good numbers … they are young … and they are all enthusiastic.”

Some of the newer athletes, who had never wrestled before, were competing for the first time at the scrimmage, Dine said, and they appeared to be doing well.

“They came here, and it was like the best day ever,” Dine said.

Some team members are just getting through the basics, including how to wear the headgear and the color tags. Dine said most of the wrestlers on Merrimack’s team were in the 126- to 144-pound weight range. So, they do not have a lot of heavyweights.

“We’re all really enthusiastic, and we had a great time tonight,” Dine said. “We’re all really looking forward to the season.”

To follow the wrestling team and all of Tomahawk athletics, visit the school’s website.

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