IAC WRESTLING: TIOGA'S HARRINGTON USE TO GETTING LATE START (3 PHOTOS) (2022-11-29)

By TIM BIRNEY
Valley Sports Report
TIOGA CENTER — If you coach winter sports at Tioga, you can count on getting a late start thanks to the success of the football program. Tiger wrestling coach Kris Harrington, whose program’s success rivals, if not exceeds, the football team’s, has grown accustom to it.

“This is a normal preseason for us — it’s standard operating procedure at this point,” said Harrington, who is entering his seventh season at Tioga.

“It’s not optimal, but I don’t think anyone feels bad for us either,” he laughed.

Numbers continue to be strong.

“We have 34 on the roster, and six in the room this week, including two from our girls team,” said Harrington. “Our numbers are good.”

One thing has changed, however, and that’s the schedule.

“We’re taking an open week in Week 1, instead of going to the Webster Tournament,” said Harrington.

“We just don’t have the numbers to go,” he noted. “It’s not an enjoyable for everyone to have a truncated two-week season at the start where we don’t have a bunch of kids.

“We’ll open up at the ‘Wrangle at the Plains’ in Albany — it’s a a Journeyman event and a new one for us. It’s a round-robin event, get the guys a bunch of matches, and get them into the swing of things.

“We don’t have a dual until the third week of December — we have four kids,” added Harrington. “We wrestle SVEC Dec. 14 in our first dual, then we go to Burnt Hills (Lee Van Slyke Memorial Duals), which will be a ripper. We’re throwing the guys to the lions two weeks into the season, but that’s a good thing for us.”

Harrington says the football team’s success has a two-fold impact on his program.

“The carryover is injuries,” said Harrington. “If you look at a kid like Emmett Wood, who is my model for kids who are really banged up coming out of football season. He had 200 carried every year and his body was beat up. We had to ease him in.

“We protect those guys,” noted Harrington. “Without having to worry about wild-card points, I don’t have to worry about wrestling them. With the depth we have, I can protect a kid if they’re a little banged up.”

The other carryover, notes Harrington, is a winning attitude.

“If you look at this group — football, wrestling, and football, coming into (wrestling), they just expect to win.

“Does it always translate? No, you have to put the work in, but I think it’s fun to have kids who have that expectation,” noted Harrington. “It’s not ‘we might be able to win,’ or ‘I think we’re going to win,’ it’s ‘we’re going to win.’

“But, they also know to win in this sport, you have to work,” he continued. “Expectations weigh heavy on a young man or a young woman.  We’re not the state champs right now … we’re going to earn another title; that the mentality they have to have.

“Last year’s banner is already on the wall … we’re chasing another banner,” added Harrington. “That expectation is great, as long as we put the work in.”

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IN PHOTO: Tioga coach Kris Harrington demonstrates a move on Tyler Roe. … PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.