Driving 90 miles a day to coach varsity wrestling doesn’t sound that bad to Mark Dulgarian.

Especially since he did just the driving part last year.

The new Lawrence High coach spent the last eight years drilling middle school grapplers. He longed for high school action again, so driving 45 miles each way seemed like a small price to pay.

“I wanted to get back into varsity coaching, and it seemed like the right time to do that,” he said.

Dulgarian, who spent the last 13 years coaching in Fort Scott, lives in Paola, about 25 miles East of Ottawa, along Highway 68. He and his wife, Sydney, moved to Paola last year after she got a job teaching Spanish. So Dulgarian drove the 60 miles to Fort Scott. One way.

It takes about an hour to reach Lawrence from Paola, and one can take about four different routes. By the time wrestling season arrives in November, he’ll be a pro at all four.

“Going to Lawrence should be a little shorter,” Dulgarian said. “And I’m sure I’ll be real familiar with the back roads.”

Dulgarian, who’ll teach social studies, inherits a Lions squad that has three returning state qualifiers in seniors-to-be Kenny Poeverlein, Aaron Madill and Chris Hultine. Poeverlein placed fifth at the Class 6A meet, while Hultine was a regional champ and Madill was the Sunflower League champ.

Fort Scott is traditionally one of the strongest 4A programs, something Dulgarian hopes carries over to basketball-rich Lawrence.

“I’ve been around. I know that there are tough programs in every league and every class,” Dulgarian said. “My goal is to be respectable against everybody we compete against.”