Michael Betteridge
The Catoctin High School Cougars wrestling team, led by second-year coach, Rick Reeder, has 14 wrestlers on the roster. Two of them are females, and they come from different ends of the timeline. One of the wrestlers, Emma Taylor, is a seasoned veteran in her senior year. Jennie Anne Smith, a freshman in her first year of wrestling, has caught the attention of county wrestlers. This is Reeder’s second year working with female wrestlers. He is no stranger to coaching young women, but not in wrestling. He was head coach of the Baltimore Charm, an all-women’s lingerie league arena football team back around 2010.
Coach Reeder took over last year for former Cougars football and wrestling sensation, Colin Schildt. Schildt replaced the legendary 2009 Coach of the Year Ryan Green, whose 10-year tenure as the Cougars wrestling head coach amassed a 144-99 record. Coach Reeder’s first year in 2022 produced a winning season in spite of a limited roster that caused some unfortunate forfeitures. As a matter of fact, Coach Reeder and former Coach Green, now good friends, had a bit of a rivalry on the mat back in the day, when they competed against each other. Coach Reeder played for Frederick and Coach Green played for Linganore.
Coach Reeder prides himself on teaching his team to be physically and mentally tough and believes that those attributes in a wrestler will help them succeed in life as well.
Trying to sell your wrestlers on toughness is not hard when 8 of the 14 wrestlers on your team play football for the Cougars. One of the toughest of those football players is senior Nathan Kovalcik. Nathan is 25-2 this season on the mat and has been recently contacted by Frostburg and Messiah. Nathan plans to wrestle in college and to pursue an engineering degree. Nathan is a heck of a football player, too. He made All-County second team linebacker, along with wrestling teammate All-County honorable mention offensive lineman, Jacob Bell. Those two pounded their opponents at the line of scrimmage much the same way they punish their opponents on the wrestling mat. Sophomore Jacob Bell is 26-1. Coach Reeder is no stranger to football players, having coached football at many different levels, including semi pro ball.
Speaking of coaching at different levels, Coach Reeder has brought several of his wrestlers up through the FCMC Frederick County Mat Club, a youth wrestling club that he has been involved in that develops young wrestlers during the offseason.
This team is building for the future with four seniors and four freshmen and sandwiched in between are a couple of very special sophomores (two) and juniors (two). Sophomore Hunter Bradshaw is 24-3 and two of his wins have been against State finishers. Sophomore Jacob Bell is 26-1. The two freshmen, Dylan Gray and Caleb Wolf, came up through the local CYA system and are making big contributions to this Cougars wrestling team.
Coach Reeder, in his quest to instill toughness, recently added a new dimension to his training: Crossfit. He has the team doing an intense Crossfit workout, then immediately back to the mats to wrestle. The Cougars have a good, well-coached wrestling team that puts the focus on team dynamics in a one-on-one sport.
Stay tuned…Catoctin Cougars wrestling is making a mark!
