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Randolph-Henry High School’s (R-H) varsity wrestling team has stood out in crowds of talented programs at different tournaments the team has participated in thus far during the 2019-20 season, and the Statesmen have achieved this with a few senior leaders and a larger group of new and young wrestlers.

“We lost eight seniors last year, so that was a big blow to the team,” Randolph-Henry Head Coach Zack Mowery said. “(We) picked up a lot of first-year wrestlers, a lot of hard workers. We also have a lot of young kids as well, so it’s been a good mix this year.”

R-H’s 2019-20 roster features six seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and four freshmen.

The coach noted that there is a trio of Statesmen on the team that has been wrestling for a long time: seniors Danny Parrish, Izaia Foster and Chandler Newcomb.

Mowery said Parrish and Newcomb have been wrestling for him since seventh grade.

There are also young wrestlers already making a massive impact, including freshman 106-pounder Brycen Arbogast and sophomore 113-pounder Shawn Copeland.

“Brycen Arbogast is ranked second in the state,” Mowery said, later adding that Arbogast is also nationally ranked, having wrestled since he was 4 years old. “Shawn Copeland is ranked seventh in the state, and then Chandler Newcomb is fifth in the state at 145, and Danny Parrish is first in the state at 170. So we’re having a solid year. A lot of new faces, a lot of new kids.”

The coach spoke about the road thus far.

“We’ve had a really hard schedule this year, which is good,” he said. “(We) need to prepare some kids for some really tough state competition — Danny Parrish is one of them, and Brycen Arbogast and Chandler and Izaia Foster and those guys, I try to get them the toughest matches we can week-in and week-out.”

Parrish entered this week with a 27-4 record on the season.

Summing up the team, Mowery said, “We’ve got a good young group. I feel like going forward after this year we have a lot to build on with Brycen Arbogast, Shawn Copeland, Adrian Bloom, Daniel Lara. Daniel Lara’s coming back in about two weeks. He dislocated his knee (in) the first tournament of the season. He’s a sophomore. He’s another really good young man that we can definitely build around. Going forward, we should have seven kids returning next year that have all been wrestling three-plus years, which is … going to be big for us.”