State of the Program ... New Hampstead (GA)
New Hampstead (Georgia)
Head Coach: O'Darius Williamson (4th Season)
Staff: Alfred Boni
New Hampstead finished 25th at the 2021 4A Traditional State Tournament and the Phoenix return many of those wrestlers this season. Meaning the expectations are that New Hampstead will make some gains in 2021-2022. The Phoenix do lose their lone 2021 State Placer in Malcolm Collins, but bring back 7 that competed in Macon at the end of last year. Andrew Brown, Jimmy Eide, Max Ruiz, and Elijah Lawton each won a match in Macon and will be counted on to lead the rise of the Phoenix in 2022.
Keep an eye on Dylan Nessen and Dwayne Phelps - both qualified in 2021 and will be counted on this make some noise this year. The Phoenix also welcome Dilyn Zanetti, Jayce Huerta, and Leah Hynes … their development will also be key to any 2021-2022 success.
“We are fired up to having a full season this year as last year we lost the first half of it. We have most of our starters returning with state experience and quite a bit of freshman and newcomers this year. If we are able to fill holes and produce the same work ethic like we did over the summer we will have a chance to not only win the region for the first time in program history, but also make some noise in the post-season for both duals and traditionals.
I have high expectations of leadership this year from my returner Max Ruiz (120.) He had the biggest gains this off season, competing in NHSCA Nationals and Super 32 Early Qualifier. With this experience, he’s using this high-level knowledge to prepare himself for the upcoming season. Dwayne Phelps (145) Jimmy Eide (170) Dylan Nessen (195) and Elijah Lawton (285) also competed in NHSCA Nationals and did well against very tough competition. I’m looking forward for these group of young men to step up and lead the way. We will also have Dilyn Zanetti (182/195) back with us as well as last year an injury kept him from being able to compete. As a freshman, he made it to 5A Sectionals as an undersized wrestler and throughout the season won some huge matches for us. A newcomer to keep your eyes on is Leah Hynes (132/138.) She has been doing some training leading up to her first year with us and looked impressive over the summer with our workouts. This may be the best dual group New Hampstead has ever seen and we are continuously getting better as the years go by.”