By The Herald Sports Staff

On paper, this looks to be a down year in Mercer County wrestling. But there is one thing to always remember about Mercer County wrestling: It's never down!

The county lost some big names to graduation last season, including four state place-winners. Reynolds lost three: state runner-up Jason Nestor, fourth-placer Steve Popovitch and eighth-place finisher Doug Woods. Sharon will sorely miss Jared Moss, who earned a bronze medal at Hershey.

Returning state medalists are Reynolds juniors Justin Nestor, fourth after winning the gold medal the previous year, and Jerry Kendall, fifth in 1999.

Coach Brian Hills' Raiders placed third in the state tourney as a team after winning Section 3, District 10 and Northwest Region titles.

Local state qualifiers, besides Nestor and Kendall, returning from last season are: Justin Hollobaugh, Reynolds; Jim Spiegel, Greenville; Drew Rose, Lakeview; and Eric McCurdy, Mercer. Reynolds also has Rocky Habel, a state qualifier in 1998.

The area recorded two significant firsts last year:

-- Slippery Rock High fielded a team, under the direction of long-time college mentor Fred Powell, which competed on a junior varsity level but wrestled at sections. They are expected to wrestle a partial varsity and junior varsity schedule.

-- The county had its first two girls in history qualify for the District 10 tournament ‹ Grove City's Erin Tomeo in Class AAA and Mercer's Micah Kelly in Class AA. The competition helped the duo in national and international freestyle women's competition in the summer as Tomeo won national crowns at both junior and cadet levels, while Kelly won a cadet crown. Tomeo has won four national cadet titles and Kelly three. At the cadet World Championships in Poland, Tomeo took third, while Kelly placed fourth.

There are no new head coaches on the local scene this season. Grove City's Marty Ruley is the dean of county coaches, now in his 24th season as a head coach, while Hickory's Carl Wombacker is in his 18th year.

There are no major rule changes this season. While the National Wrestling Federation of High Schools has adopted a 215-pound weight class, it has never been approved in Pennsylvania. There is some talk, however, that the weight may be included in the post-season tournaments to help out the lighter heavyweights.