 Well after 20 seasons as either head coach or co-head coach, Mike Boren decided to step down at the end of Brainerd's wrestling season last year. Now Boren's co-head coach Mickey White steps into the head coaching role alone and the Warriors couldn't be off to a better start. A lot of guys work hard in the off season and this is kind of the last shot so all these seniors are ready and hungry and ready to make it to state tournament. And the season is off to a great start for the Brainerd Warriors as they are 7-0 and grab first place at the Paul Bunyan Invitational for the first time since the 1988-1989 season when they also finished as state runner-ups. Winning the Bunyan sure gave us motivation and yeah we were solved all the way up. Like Kyle said we were pretty weak in our upper class last year but a couple new guys on the team and we all worked hard for it so. Every guy that wrestled in that tournament was kind of feeling on top of the world after we were done and it helps out a lot just kind of sets a tone of what we need from our season and where we can end up. The Warriors are hoping to get back to state but the competition throughout the section is loaded this season. Obviously our goal is to get out of the section and get to the state tournament. We've got you know a big hurdle between Bemidji. Bemidji is really tough this year. Wilmer and Little Fosters always teams that are tough you know and so for us to get out it's going to be difficult even though we've got good wrestlers. Although the Warriors lost the experience Mike Bourne from the coaching staff Brainer does return a bevy of seniors who bring a lot of experience to the map. We hardly lost anybody we lost two seniors last year we've got 10 seniors this year which is unheard of for our program we don't have that many guys usually. The leadership that comes with those older guys and they're all experienced wrestlers so we've got great leadership and a lot of good skill. Now the Warriors just have to keep working hard and continue to learn every day. There's a lot of mental game and wrestling and to be able to use what's happened so far to spring us forward and keep moving forward and keep trying to excel. The undefeated Warriors have certainly excelled so far but this is only the beginning for a Brainer team with state tournament aspirations. The Warriors have tomorrow off before they hit the road for a triangular at Royalton. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.