The winter prep sports season is just under way and already the Austin High wrestling team is in the spotlight.

Thursday, November 18, 1999

The winter prep sports season is just under way and already the Austin High wrestling team is in the spotlight.

Four Austin wrestlers have been named among the top 10 individuals in the state in their respective weight classes by The Guillotine.

The Guillotine, a newspaper, is the authority on Minnesota wrestling. In its preseason rankings in the Nov. 15 edition, The Guillotine named seniors Brian Heimer and Mike Cunningham, junior Chad Mentel, and eighth grader T.J. Parlin among the state’s top wrestlers.

Parlin is ranked second at 103 pounds, Cunningham is second at 145 pounds, Mentel is ninth at 189 pounds and Heimer is seventh at heavyweight.

Among Big Nine schools, only Owatonna, the Class AAA state runner-up last season, has more wrestlers ranked in the polls; nine of the 13 weight class polls include an Owatonna wrestler.

Austin coach Bill Kinney said the polls do show that the Packer program is respected. But the polls, he said, "don’t mean a whole lot.

"It’s just paper. It stimulates talk and interest and gives people an idea of what to look for."

Kinney posts the polls in the locker room, but said, "we never talk about them."

"Some of the guys like to look at them," Kinney said, "but others don’t."

Why?

"It can make you a marked man," said Cunningham.

The preseason rankings are largely based on last season’s state and section finishes, though Kinney did say the rankings are thoroughly researched and not compiled lightly.

Still, it’s not uncommon for unranked wrestlers to proved the rankings wrong.

For example, Cunningham wasn’t ranked to begin his junior season, but went on to finish third at 135 pounds in the Class AAA state tournament.