“Our regular season was tough, because we had a lot of holes to fill,” says Pequignot, “We had several injuries and we had quite a few guys that don’t have much experience. The ability levels on our team is a wide range and we try to get our best wrestlers the competition they need to compete at a high level and that can be difficult for the rest of the team.”

Liberty went 3-13 in dual meets and attended several highly competitive tournaments, including the DKI, where the Mounties placed 15th of 25 teams with Pequignot winning a title at 121 pounds, Nickerson taking 3rd at 114 and senior Charles Aumick (14-5) placing 7th at 127.

Nickerson went 5-2 and placed 7th at the 60-team Mid-Winter Mayhem while Pequignot went 3-2 .. falling to the eventual 4th and 7th place State wrestlers.

The Mounties sent six wrestlers to Sectionals, where both Pequignot (121) and Nickerson (107) won titles. Senior Skyler Everetts (9-9) placed 5th at 215, junior Wyatt Nybeck (4-14) was 6th at 189, junior Aivan Whitteker (5-9) was 6th at 127, sophomore Logan Bitner (3-9) competed at 139, sophomore Bentley Chilson (4-8) wrestled at 133 and junior Gavin Stubblefield (0-10) was at 172.

Nickerson proceeded to take 2nd at Districts and 4th at the North East Regional to qualify for States. His win in the 7th/8th place match in Hershey left Nickerson with a 32-12 record on the season, including a 10-5 mark in the postseason. In his five losses during his run to the State podium, Nickerson fell to the PIAA runner-up (twice), the 3rd place winner and the 8th place finisher. 

“Bodhi had a outstanding season and surpassed my expectations,” says Coach Pequignot, “He’s a competitor and turns it on in the post season. It was great for the program to get a state medalist.”

Bryce Pequignot followed up his Sectional title with a 2nd place finish at both Districts and Regionals. After going 2-2 and being eliminated one win away from a medal in Hershey, Pequignot finished the season 35-7 and sits at 104-22 as he enters his senior season next year. His 9-4 record in the postseason included losses to the PIAA 3rd-place winner (twice) and to the 4th and 8th place finishers.

“Bryce fell a little short of where he wanted to be,” says Coach/Dad Craig, “He was a little undersized in a very deep weight class. He knows where he needs to improve and is already back to work.”

Pequignot is hoping Bodhi and Bryce’s State runs influences a promising group of younger wrestlers in the program.

“We've been working towards that for a while and hopefully that opened the door for more to follow,” says Pequignot, “I’m hoping that our younger wrestlers are seeing the success were having in the post season and believe that that can be them.”

That includes a Junior High team that won the NTL tournament and a successful youth program. 

“Our program is heading in the right direction,” says Pequignot, “and the consistency of sending guys to states has raised the bar. It seems more achievable for the younger wrestlers seeing what these guys are capable of in our program and hopefully it gets the majority of our kids to commit to training the entire offseason.”