Wheaton Preview
Wheaton College Thunder
Head Coach: Jim Gruenwald
Years at School as head coach: first season
2008-2009 Dual Meet Record: 6-9
2008-2009 All-American: Toby Boltz (184/8th)
Number of returning wrestlers who competed in 2009 national qualifier: 5
Top returning starters:
174 Justin Marble 21-20, 5th Great Lakes
184 Justin Tomal 24-16, 5th Great Lakes
197 Matthew Griffiths 10-7
Top incoming wrestlers:
Casey Krahn
Stephen Takashima
2008 was a transitional year for Wheaton. Head Coach Dan Weber was a one year appointment while a more permanent coach was found. Wheaton did pretty well for themselves in enticing Olympian and USOEC Greco-Roman coach Jim Gruenwald to make the move from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the suburbs of Chicago. In addition, the team had their first national qualifier and All-American since 2003 in Toby Boltz. Boltz has graduated, and a small team greets the new coach as he works to start the next era of Wheaton Wrestling. A pair of 5th place finishers at the Great Lakes Region will lead the way for the Thunder in senior Justin Tomal and junior Justin Marble. 197 Matthew Griffiths has been a two sport athlete for the past two years but has decided to focus on wrestling for his last two years of college. A number of other starters return and put their year of experience starting as freshmen to good use.