Campus News
January 20th, 2026
Southern Mat Club hosts tournament in CARC
Over 700 individual matches took place in Morin Family Gymnasium
The Southern Mat Club "Ram Tough" youth wrestling tournament drew 392 wrestlers to the Morin Family Gymnasium in Garrett College’s Edwards Community Aquatic & Recreation Complex on Sunday. Pictured above is the host Southern Mat Club, featuring 75 participants, during the tournament’s opening ceremonies.
The math alone was impressive.
There were 703 matches featuring 392 wrestlers and 33 teams on six mats over seven hours on Sunday as part of the Southern Mat Club "Ram Tough" youth wrestling tournament. The tournament, held in the Morin Family Gymnasium at the Edwards Community Aquatic & Recreation Complex, included six boys’ and five girls’ age brackets along with 19 tournament sponsors.
"We had wrestling teams from four states with wrestlers from 3 years old to 15," noted Nathan Sines, the Southern Mat Club head wrestling coach who served as co-tournament director with his wife, Rachal.
"The Southern Mat Club had 75 wrestlers and the Northern Mat Club have over 50 wrestlers participate," added Nathan Sines, observing it was "pretty impressive that we had so many local wrestlers participating."
Sines, whose squad serves as a feeder to the Southern Garrett High School wrestling program, said the tournament previously took place at SGHS.
"We just felt like we had outgrown those facilities," said Sines. "We were limited to four mats and had limited parking, which we needed to consider because we knew the tournament was going to be expanding."
Sines said it was initially Rachal’s idea to consider moving the tournament to the Morin Family Gymnasium and the related CARC facilities.
"We sent our boys to the Garrett College wrestling camp this summer," Sines related. "We bumped into David [Wingate, GC’s head wrestling coach] a couple of times and the more we talked about it, the more we felt moving the tournament was worth checking into. It ended up being one of the best decisions we’ve made."
"The whole Garrett College experience has been overwhelmingly positive for our club," said Rachal Sines, whose three children – Kellen, 4; Hayes, 9; and Warner, 10 – all wrestled in Sunday’s event.
"Coach Wingate as well as Chantel [Lowdermilk, GC’s assistant director of events] have been extremely helpful and enjoyable to work with," added Rachal Sines. "The custodial, facilities, and security personnel were also very appreciated."
Nathan Sines said the Southern Mat Club, which his uncle first coached back in the 1980s, attempts to do more than just develop wrestlers.
"Wrestling is a sport that develops so many character-building life skills," he said. "We’re here to help kids learn how to wrestle, but we also want to teach things like sportsmanship and creating good citizens.
"We try to create a secure place where they have positive experiences," added Sines. "Almost all of us [Southern Mat Club coaches] wrestled for [SGHS] Coach Dave Taylor. We try to shadow the things he taught us and be good role models."
Notes: In addition to head coach Nathan Sines, the Southern Mat Club features 14 other coaches: Travis Sines, Mike Steyer, Justin Gregory, Justin Ratliff, Justin Fitzwater, Chad Wilburn, Tony Wotring, Ryan Fitzwater, Dustin Armstrong, Nolan Marple, Garrett Campbell, Dakota Pritt, Davey Stewart, and Kris Sanders.
