With the 2023-24 wrestling season coming around the corner, we are excited to introduce to you some of Mead’s promising athletes. As the Mavericks took 7th at the state tournament in the 2022-23 season with just five qualifiers, we are looking forward to what this season has in store.

Head Coach Ty Tatham shared that he has a lot to look forward to this year. 

“Just the team we have…from state champs coming back to qualifiers and a lot of kids that have been in the varsity lineup”, he said. 

Coach Tatham also shared that his goals center around each athlete doing their best. 

“The goal is really to develop everybody to the point where they can reach their potential with their goals and get better each week leading up to regionals and the state tournament,” he said. 

The 2023-24 Mavericks wrestling team is poised to stand as one of Mead’s most successful yet. While the season doesn’t start for a number of weeks, here are some wrestlers to keep an eye on for the upcoming season.

Otto Black (‘24): 2x Fargo National champion, 3x U.S. Open All American, 2x State placer, U17 World Team member, and 2021 World Championship 5th place.

Leister Bowling IV (‘25): 2x State placer, 2023 State runner up, Fargo All American, 2023 U.S. Open national runner up, NHSCA All American, and 2023 Regional Champion.

Jake Glade (‘24): 3x State placer, 2023 State champion, 2x Regional champion, and 3x Fargo qualifier.

Dalton Berg (‘24): 2023 State champion and 2x Regional champion.

Trey Tathum (‘26): Fargo qualifier and 2023 State qualifier.

Will Guerra (‘24): 2023 State qualifier.

As preseason is kicking off, several of these athletes have been taking steps in the right direction to reach their full potential. 

Jake Glade (‘24) said that to prepare for this season he has been wrestling Greco and freestyle (other styles of wrestling) over the summer, lifting to get stronger, and has been wrestling folk style (collegiate) since the ‘23-‘24 school year has started. 

Leister Bowling (‘25) has also been preparing for this season by taking no days off and training all summer with Bellator MMA’s first double champ, 2006 Pan-American Greco World Champion, and 2006 Greco World Champion, Joe Warren. 

A number of varsity athletes have had the privilege of working with coach Warren this offseason; athletes such as Jake, Leister, and Otto have been the most persistent in putting in the hours with Warren. 

Everyone’s dream when stepping on a mat in high school is to win a state title. With the work that these three young men have done, their goal is to take home the gold in the 2023-24 season. To find out more about this season’s wrestling schedule, click here.