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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

CHELSEA – The Chelsea City Council recognized the Chelsea High School Wrestling team’s success the past season and its players that competed at state during a regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 20.

Wrestlers from Chelsea High School, Middle School and the youth club were present in the council chambers as the Chelsea City Council recognized the achievements of the high school team.

“The program is in a very good spot going forward (and) we have a lot of tough kids that are in there,” said Mike Merritt, the head wrestling coach for Chelsea High School. “We all appreciate the support we get from the city of Chelsea.”

Chelsea High School’s wrestling program competed in 7A and went 8-5 overall for a record and Tyler Rayford hit the 100-win mark during the season. Chelsea came home 14th overall at a recent state tournament and took second during the Chelsea Invitational in November out of 16 teams.

“I want to say thank you to the community, number one, for supporting us,” said Caleb Gore, the head coach for Chelsea Middle School’s wrestling team. “I also want to say that we had a great season this year.”

Gore shared that the program at the middle school had grown significantly and placed high at some of the tournaments it participated in.

“The kids put in a lot of hard work and wrestled very hard,” Gore said. “So, lots of great accomplishments, especially for a lot of first year wrestlers that we’ve had.”

Phillip Bolen with the city’s Youth Wrestling teams was also present at the meeting and discussed the program’s success.

“What we do is a feeder program for our middle and high (schools),” Bolen said. “I think we’re being very successful, and hopefully we can keep growing with the support of Chelsea.”

During the meeting, Mayor Pro Tempore Scott Weygand expressed his excitement for the success wrestling has had on all fronts in the city of Chelsea.

“We’re excited for you guys and hope everybody continues to wrestle,” he said. “That’s an important program and I wrestled a long, long time ago and it’s a lot of fun and a very difficult sport. So, congratulations to all of you.”