The Glacier boys wrestling team lost five seniors off last year’s squad, but the good news is one half of its state placers return.

We’re talking about Kaleb Shine, who as a junior rolled up a 28-7 record and took third at 152 pounds back in February.

Shine and Garrett Bosch — who as a sophomore placed sixth at 113 pounds, then missed last season with a back injury — provide senior leadership on a team that has a few weight classes to fill. 

“We’re kind of heavy in the middle weights, like a lot of teams,” Glacier coach Ross Dankers said. “We have six at 138 and five at ‘45. There are holes at 113 and ‘82, but we’ve got some real experienced top-tier kids that we’re looking toward for leadership, to set the tempo for the new faces in the varsity lineup.

Junior Nikola Coles, who wrestled at state at 152 last season with Shine, is back; so is junior Mark Ahner at 160 and sophomore Noah Horn at 205. Horn had a promising freshman campaign at 182, as did Aiden Sweat at 103. All of them wrestled at the State AA meet last season.

Dankers is excited to see how sophomore Tyler Jorgenson fairs at 126 and how promising freshman Shannon Hughes does at 160. 

The Wolfpack girls number nine strong currently, with one senior: Temree Payne-Taylor, who wrestled at state at 120 last season.

“We graduated a big slew, a lot of it from that main group that came in that first year (of girls wrestling, in 2021),” Danker said. “It’s kind of the same thing as the boys: We’re tough down low.”

Two-time state finalist Brooke Yeadon, now a junior, leads the way. She’ll be at 114 and sophomore Katelyn Sphuler could be a force at 107.

“We make kind of a nice run to 132,” Dankers said. “But then with graduation we’re still looking to fill those heavier weights.”

Glacier’s boys and girls begin their season Saturday with duals against the Great Falls schools: The Wolfpack take on CMR at noon, and Great Falls High at 2 p.m.