Wrestle-offs for starting varsity spots last Wednesday marked the dawn of a new season for Hartland High School's wrestling team.

The Eagles have had several individuals win state titles over the years, and, as a team, Hartland was the Division 1 state runner-up from 2004-07. While state titles are always the goal in the Hartland program, it's going to be a little tougher this year than usual.

"Basically, we lost 10 of 14 starters from last year," coach Todd Cheney said.  "So for the first time in probably 15 years, we have a rebuilding year. We still have a bunch of standouts back that will lead us, including three kids that have placed at state, and four that have made it to the state meet before." 

These standouts, who are also captains, include John Julien, who took seventh in the state last year at 140 pounds; Ross Kantola, who took eighth in the state at 112; Keith Boldt, who took eighth in the state at 119; and Chase Snider, who is a three-time state qualifier. 

"Our other senior captain is Nick Long, who has seen varsity action on and off for the past three years," Cheney said.

All of the captains have high goals and expectations for the team this year. 

"There's a lot of new faces on the team and a lot of big shoes to fill from last year," Long said.  "Let's just make another run at the state meet." 

Said Kantola: "We have a lot of hard work ahead of us, trying to win KLAA's and make it back to team states. We have a lot of young kids on our team, so it should be an interesting year."

Hartland has won the KLAA conference title the past two years, on top of the KVC title for eight straight years prior, but this year is hinting to be more difficult than previous years. 

"Our division of the KLAA will be very tough," Cheney said. "Brighton will be really good.  They have, I believe, 12 out of their 14 starters back and they got a transfer state qualifier from Fenton so they'll be really good.  Howell will be very good as well because I believe they return 10 out of their 14 starters."

Since 2002, Hartland has made it to the team state meet nine times and looks to add a tenth appearance.

"As always, our goal is to make a run at the state title," Cheney said. "District- and regional-wise, we still have a great shot to make it back to states, we just need to make sure we improve every day and stay healthy."

Hartland opens the season Wednesday against Anchor Bay and in Rochester at 5:30 p.m. Pre-season team and individual rankings can be found here.