State of the Program ... Shades Valley (AL)
Shades Valley (AL)
Head Coach: Martin Blankenship (entering 21st year of coaching)
Staff: Robert Nelson, Robert Fravel
Shades Valley welcomes the return of Coach Martin Blankenship. Blankenship returns after a few years away, but with a team that returns quite a few wrestlers that competed in the 2022 post-season including State Qualifier Malique Steele. David Barclay and Briley Brooks both return and should help solidify the bottom part of the lineup with Senior Peter Cruz and 8th-grader Alexander Boone.
Keep an eye on Ashton Benson, Amir Higgs, and Trevor Hendricks through the middle of the lineup, but the Mounties strength will likely come up top as they build around Steele (who could compete at 195). Christion Clark returns at 285, but may have to hold off Cedric McIntyre, and Carlos Ford to keep that spot on the lineup. Look for Camarius Wiley, Julian Maddox, and Carterrius Ford to fill in around Steele from 182-220.
“I was the coach here for four years and with the help of Frankie McKeown (Homewood), began to build this program back to respectability. During the three years away helping coach my son’s team (Gardendale), Shades Valley has has three coaches. I am hoping to return some stability to the program, as well as restoring their respectability. We only had a couple of clinics this summer, so this first year will be a good measuring stick for future seasons. We are slowly building our numbers up as the season approaches and we hop to keep most of them through the season.”
NOTE: All mentions of placers and qualifiers in the body are based on the 2021-22 season. If a wrestler placed higher or lower in a previous year it is not captured above.