The wrestling team will have to face adversity and will have to adjust. Brophy’s wrestling team is led by coaches and players with skill, passion, and experience.
Head Coach Mr. Wayne Catan is a Hall of Fame wrestler and has nine years of coaching experience. He is from New York and wrestled for Syracuse University where he became a three-time Division One All-American as well as a two-time NCAA finalist. Catan has been wrestling and coaching for a long time and he said, “I’m really happy to be here at Brophy,” Alongside Coach Catan, there are two assistant coaches, Joe Klein ‘86 and David Sweetman ‘24, who both have years of experience with wrestling.
The team is led this year by three returners who placed at state. One of them is Adam Angulo ’26, a state runner-up looking to take it all this year. Another returner is Blake Sweetman ’26 who placed third at state. Lastly, there is Jackson Sweetman ’25 who placed 5th at state. One of Coach Catan’s goals for this year is to add three more state placers for a total of at least six. As a team, Brophy placed ninth last year and they are aiming for the top five this year. Coach Catan believes they can do this with those leaders as well as other great wrestlers such as Beau Wallace ’27, Cooper Carey ’25, and Rowdy Benear ’25.
One of the strengths of the team is their culture. “We are going into this together as a family – wrestling is a difficult sport and we are going into it together as a team,” Coach Catan said. Building a support system throughout the team makes the team as a whole stronger
A weakness that they currently have is that they haven’t identified the two lowest-weight classes yet (106-113 lbs).
Brophy’s Wrestling Team was just switched into a new conference (Section 4) where they will be facing different teams than in past years. One team they will have to face is Sunnyside. Sunnyside is one of the strongest teams in Arizona and has won state for the past seven years alongside their other thirty wrestling state championships. Another tough team they will be playing this year is Corona Del Sol. Although this change may seem drastic, the team embraced the challenge. Brophy is still one of the toughest competitors having up to four ranked wrestlers going into the season. This brings much attention to the team and puts targets on those wrestlers and the team. The team is well aware of this. “There will be some targets on our backs but we welcome that,” Coach Catan said.
