Veteran leads MHS wrestlers
By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
No one has more experience with the Manville High School wrestling program than David Olmsted.
He joined the Mustangs as a freshman without any competitive mat experience, put together an encouraging debut year and has grown from there. Now a senior, the only one of the Mustangs’ three who has been there for four seasons, he’s in the midst of putting together his finest year.
”I think I’ve wrestled pretty well thus far,” said Olmsted, who was 8-4 going into Wednesday’s North Warren match that was completed after deadline. “I think I’ve been working hard in the wrestling room and putting it out on the mat.”
Olmsted has won five of his last seven matches, including three by pins. Like the Mustangs, he split his matches on Saturday with a win over East Orange and a loss to Butler. MHS felt they didn’t have their best only three days after their most impressive showing in a 63-12 win over Pingry last Wednesday. It was the answer to a narrow 33-31 loss to Red Bank Catholic.
”I think they had a little chip on their shoulder,” said MHS head coach Pat Gorbatuk, whose team is 4-6. “They were a little fired up from the way we lost.”
Olmsted had a pin in the win. He is well on his way to eclipsing last year’s 14-20 mark. He can make a big statement with a strong showing at the Somerset County Tournament at Hillsborough High School on Saturday.
”I just want to go out there and win matches and get to the finals,” said Olmsted, who won his first-round match last year before falling to the top seed at 140 pounds.
This year, Olmsted is at 130 pounds and seeing more success overall.
”Last year, David was stuck behind two very good wrestlers and he got stuck wrestling up a couple weight classes,” Gorbatuk said. “He’s wrestling his natural weight this year. He’s stepping up and being one of our leaders. This is his last chance to do something really great on the wresting mat and he’s taking full advantage of it.
”It’s nice that he’s able to get off to such a good start,” he added. “He put himself in good position. The most important thing for him is to be wrestling his best when Feb. 19 hits. That’s when districts start.”
Olmsted has grown right along with the Mustangs, even if there were some growing pains. After a promising freshman year, Olmsted won just one match as a sophomore, but it was impressive that he wrestled much at all given the circumstances.
”I had to battle,” Olmsted recalled. “I fractured my ribs. That was early in the season. I was battling through that. I broke my ribs and I didn’t realize it. I continued the match and went all the way to overtime.”
Olmsted returned tougher and stronger for his junior year when he won 14 matches. Many of them were early in the year before he faded down the stretch with more than half of his losses coming in the final month and a half.
”I started wrestling up at 140 to help the team out,” he said. “I had to gain weight to wrestle at that and my body wasn’t used to being that heavy. I wasn’t comfortable wrestling that high.”
He has come into his senior year in the best shape he has been, and with greater determination to prove himself.
”This year is my senior year and I’m looking to wrestle in college,” Olmsted said. “I’ve been working all summer to work towards that. Hopefully this season can lean me towards collegiate wrestling.”
Summers always have been a big benefit to Olmsted, and this past summer was no different. He attended a camp overseen by Rutgers University’s Matt Pletcher.
”He worked on us pretty hard,” Olmsted said. “I benefited from that. What he was teaching us benefited how I wrestle. It made me more confident on the mat taking shots. It helped my bottom work. I was a terrible bottom wrestler. I’m more confident on the bottom now in a defensive position.”
Olmsted continues to work in the wrestling room each day. He is encouraged by the developments of the MHS program.
”My freshman year, we only had like three wins as a team,” Olmsted said. “Each year, the wins have gotten greater and greater. We were winning on the mat, but not filling up the weight classes so we weren’t winning many matches.
”When I first started, we had 10 kids on the team, and we never had all 10 people wrestle. It’s definitely nice to see the numbers have increased by a lot.”
The Mustangs have also found better quality each season. They had two medalists at last year’s county tournament. Nick Janner was the seventh seed at 130 pounds, but reached the finals. Devin Burke was fourth at 112 pounds.
”Being it’s a very difficult tournament, I’d like to see my better wrestlers at least get to the finals and to the medal rounds and have a chance to take top four,” Gorbatuk said of this year’s county tournament. “My lesser kids, I like to see them have a good match in the prelims and maybe get to the quarterfinals so it’s not one and done. I’d like them to get some experience.”
Olmsted echoes those sentiments. As the most experienced wrestler from the MHS program, he wants only good things for a team that continues to make strides.
”My freshman year, we used to get laughed at,” Olmsted said. “Now, I’m trying to show that leadership and set that example that this is what you guys need to be doing and this is what you can achieve if you just work at it.”