By MICHAEL BOYLAN

Sports Editor

The McIntosh Chiefs have had a strong wrestling program for the past several years but Coach Marty Hutsell does not want to oversell his team this year. The Chiefs were ranked third in the state in the pre-season polls but Coach Hutsell can't see how. State Champions and All-Americans,Andy Kan and Mike Munn have graduated , along with seven other members of last years team,and moved on to the world of collegiate wrestling. The Chiefs are left young, only five seniors on the team, inexperienced and healing from several injuries.

"Our best team isn't on the floor yet," explains Coach Hutsell. "We're missing senior Joe Giovinco for another week and sophomores Rob Sutor and Eddie Smith will probably be back this weekend." Coach Hutsell feels his program is in a rebuilding process and thinks that it will take between three and five years to get his numbers back up. The Chiefs aren't exactly weak though either. Seniors Matt Waters, Lukas Smith and Josh Rickards return to the team. Waters was third in the state in the heavyweight division, while Smith was fifth in the state in the 189 grouping. Rickards has been a varsity starter for four years and brings experience and leadership to the team.

The Chiefs have won 40 dual meets in a row, including last Tuesday's wins over East Coweta,81-6,Northgate,69-9 and Stockbridge,58-25. "It's hard to keep a streak like that going," admits Coach Hutsell, who has led the Chiefs to a regional championship the past three years. The fiercest competition in the region will be the Fayette County Tigers, as Troup County dropped to region AAA. The Chiefs travel to Woodward Academy on Wednesday to face a much improved Woodward squad.

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