“We got to a lot of competitions. Our student athletes wrestled anywhere from 40-50 matches. That includes high school, college opens, national-level high school tournaments and the recent U.S. Open in Las Vegas. Overall, it was a very good year, a season of success,” says Mike Kulczycki, Head Coach of Wrestling at SPIRE Academy. 

It certainly was a season of success. At the Journeyman World Classic Freestyle Wrestling Tournament and Duals—held April 4 and 5 at Union College in Schenectady, New York—Ryan Kennedy and Jason Dube both competed at 145lbs and put on dominant performances, each going 5-0 with impressive wins over top international opponents. 

At the Solon Comet Classic—held December 13 and 14 of last year—Kennedy won the championship belt for the 138lb class and earned MVP, while Denis Kodakov took third place. At the U.S. Open—held this past April 23-27 in Las Vegas—Kennedy wrestled U20 in the 65kg class and went 7-2, taking seventh place. Ryan has also qualified for the U20 World Team Trials, to be held at SPIRE Academy May 30 and 31. Not to be overlooked, the U.S. Open also saw: Jason Dube (U17, 65 kg) go 4-2; Brogan Fielding (U20, 65kg) go 8-2; Talan Hubbard (U20, 70kg) go 1-2 and Kyle Vencil (U20, 79kg) go 2-2.

What does Coach Kulczycki chalk this level of success up to this year? “I know my wrestlers,” he offers as one example. “Most of my student athletes are in their second year wrestling here. This is important. It takes time to develop wrestlers, to get them in the right mindset, and also for me to get on the same page as them. I have to know mentally, physically and even emotionally how far I can push them. I’m lucky to have had most of these student athletes back. We saw a lot of progress this year, and SPIRE Academy Wrestling is now officially on the map.”

One wrestler who made a lot of progress in his second year at SPIRE is Kennedy. “I’ve known Ryan for a while,” says Kulczycki. “He was one of my club kids at The Wrestling Factory. This year was a big turning point for him. He went from losing a lot to the top guys—by just a couple of points in every tournament—to beating opponent after opponent. He had three or four nationally ranked wins, then won a big tournament called “Escape the Rock” in Pennsylvania. Now he’s nationally ranked and has committed to wrestle for the University of Maryland, a Big 10 conference school. Ryan took a chance with SPIRE and it’s really paid off for him.”

Closing in on the end of the 2024–2025 academic and athletic year, SPIRE Wrestling is also set to send five of its graduates off to some of the country’s best collegiate wrestling programs:

1. Rider Betts—Virginia Military Institute (Chesapeake, VA)
2. Brogan Fielding—Ohio State University (Jefferson, OH)
3. Talan Hubbard—Binghamton University (Cortland, NY)
4. Ryan Kennedy—University of Maryland, (College Park, MD)
5. Denis Kodakov Gil—Undecided as of yet, as he sorts through his choices (Madrid, Spain)

And while the official SPIRE Wrestling season is at an end, wrestling activities at SPIRE, per Coach Kulczycki, never quite stop: “The last weekend in May, SPIRE Academy will host the USA Wrestling U20, the World Team Trials and the U23 Nationals. We’ll also have a clinic that weekend, so we encourage young wrestlers and their families to come out, watch some great wrestling, check out our facilities and maybe even learn a move or two. There will be camps in the summer, and student athlete wrestlers who live nearby will be training here throughout that time. And we’re always recruiting, always looking to grow wrestling overall and SPIRE Academy Wrestling in particular. It never really ends.”