Pair led Tide wrestlers to second-place finish at state championship
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Spaulding wrestling coaches Dave Fournier, left, and Mick Kerin look on during last month's Essex Invitational. Photo Credit: Hilary Ostrout |
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By Anna Grearson TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: March 13, 2009
Spaulding coaches David Fournier and Mick Kerin helped bring the Crimson Tide to within 13 points of perennial power Mount Anthony at this winter's State Championships the closest anyone has come to the Patriots since the Tide finished 1.5 points out in 1991.
For their efforts a 17-3 overall record including a spotless 12-0 NVAC league record and 15-1 in-state record the two were voted this season's Coaches of the Year by their peers.
"We're not real big about patting ourselves on the back. It's not the reason why we do this," Kerin said prior to Thursday's youth program practice at Spaulding High School. "It's good to know people respect us enough to vote for us."
Both Kerin and Fournier also work with the BYSA youth program and the Tide's JV program in addition to the varsity program alongside fellow coaches Darren O'Meara and Eddie LaPan and former Spaulding wrestlers Brian Bailey and Matt Cappetta.
"We've been at various levels for 28 years," Kerin said.
"Since 1983, to be exact," Fournier added.
"I started a little bit before him," Kerin said. "I was coaching with Mike Anderson and Chuck Welch and hanging out with the high school team and doing the youth program with them, and then I started the Barre Youth Sports team program. When he came home from college we really got rolling in going to out-of-state tournaments and hosting tournaments here, the two of us and some other guys who were coaching with us at the time."
While Spaulding was ultimately unable to get past Mount Anthony this year, the Tide were able to put the Patriots in an unfamiliar spot headed into the second day of competition."It was pretty neat to hear the top 10 rundown after semifinals," Kerin explained. "Usually people don't start really listening until you get to the fourth, third. They said in third place is Otter Valley with however many points, and then in second place, and everybody was listening, Mount Anthony. And that just hasn't been said for so long. People were coming up to us all the time going, 'What do you think? What do you think?' And we said, 'We don't know what you're talking about; we're not talking about it.' And we didn't talk about it. We didn't talk about it with the boys."
Kerin, Fournier and the Tide program saw four wrestlers Kyle Edmunds, Brett Tremblay, Bryant Cleveland and Reuben Stone achieve their 100th career wins this season.
This winter also marks the sixth season many of the Tide's wrestlers have participated in the program with Kerin and Fournier four high school seasons and two in the youth program.
"This group we had here is just a very special group of kids," Fournier said. "Each one of them brings a little something different to the table, one little aspect and the others kind of feed off of it, and they've been this way since they were sophomores in high school. Their sophomore year we went up to the state tournament in St. Johnsbury. The ride up there that year was so different. They were so loose, and just goofing off, but they went out and took second place as sophomores. We were like, 'Holy cow, what the heck is going on here?' And that's the way they were going to Essex this year
In their mind, they knew they could give (Mount Anthony) a run, but I don't think they had an inkling it could be that close."
Spaulding will lose seniors Edmunds, Cleveland, Tremblay, Stone, Kenny Demingware, Zack Rillo, Jeromy Anderson and Gabe Aguilar. The Crimson Tide will also hope to fill in two weight classes 103 and 112 pounds that they have been forced to forfeit.
"We have a couple of eighth graders," Kerin said. "Certainly it's going to be a priority to find a couple of little guys. We're reloading at most of the other weights with some pretty capable JV kids who can fill right in."
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