Lake Erie College Men's Wrestling

John Penfold is entering his first season as the head coach of the Storm wrestling program and third overall in 2025-26. A native of Goodrich, Michigan, Penfold has a strong competitive and coaching background. He wrestled at Lake Erie from 2016 to 2022, where he was a three-time regional placer. After graduating, he remained at Lake Erie as a coach from 2022 to 2024, where he helped train four All-Americans and a National Finalist. In 2024-25 he served as an assistant coach at Goodrich High School, guiding four state placers and one state champion during his lone season. In addition to his school coaching roles, he founded Attrition Wrestling, a club which has quickly earned a reputation as one of Michigan's top wrestling programs. Penfold holds three degrees from Lake Erie. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Sport Management with a minor in Coaching in 2021, a Master of Education in 2023, and a Master of Business Administration in 2024.  

Ferrell joins the Storm Wrestling program as a graduate assistant, working with the upper weight classes. Ferrell wrestled collegiately at the University of Central Oklahoma.  He qualified for nationals twice as a Bronco.  Before wrestling at Central Oklahoma, Ferrell played football at Emporia State University for one season. A Tulsa, Okla. native, Ferrell received his Bachelor of Science in General Studies from Central Oklahoma with a minor in sociology.

Chris Droege is entering his fourth season as an assistant coach of the Storm wrestling program in 2025-26. Prior, he wrestled for Lake Erie and became the fifth All-American in program history. He was also the first U23 All-American, placing seventh in the Greco U23 world team trials. He graduated from Lake Erie with a bachelors and masters degree in business administration, as well as a masters degree in professional studies. Currently he owns and operates his own painting company in Painesville called Evolution Painting & Restoration. He is also an MMA fighter who is looking to turn professional in the near future   

Lyon joins the Storm coaching staff after a successful career at Division-I Michigan State University. Lyon started all four-years at 125-pounds.  Competing in the Big-10 Conference, Lyon scored victories over some of the top-ranked wrestlers in the nation.  He placed fourth at the Cradle Gear Invite and sixth at the UNI Invite in 2014. An Ithaca, Mich. native, Lyon graduated from Michigan State in 2014.

Hoogenboom was named the first head wrestling coach in Lake Erie history in November 2009, charged with the task of building the program from the mat up.  Now entering his third season, Hoogenboom has the program on the brink of conference, regional and national contention. The Storm's inaugural season of 2010-11 could only be deemed a success as Hoogenboom led his squad to five dual wins and a regional ranking as high as eighth during the course of the season.  Two wrestlers, Josh Linden and Sam Delpra, earned top five individual regional rankings and Andrew Gasber finished sixth at 165-pounds at the Super 2 Regional.  Following the season, Hoogenboom was one of only 45 coaches nationwide selected to attend the NWCA Coaching Leadership Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.  In 2011-12, Lake Erie broke through with its first two national qualifiers in freshmen Austin Gillihan and Matt Vandermeer.  Vandermeer went on to a sixth place finish at 165 pounds at the NCAA Division II Championships to become the school's first wrestling All-American.  As a team, Lake Erie upped its dual-meet win total to eight, including a wins over nationally-ranked teams in Limestone and West Liberty.  The Storm finished third at the inaugural GLIAC Championships and had a pair of all-conference wrestlers. Off the mat, Lake Erie had four wrestlers named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division II All-Academic Team and had four named to the GLIAC All-Academic Team and one to the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team.   Prior to Lake Erie, Hoogenboom was a student-athlete and assistant coach at Mercyhurst College . He was part of the first wrestling recruiting class in Mercyhurst history and after his career ended in 2004, he headed to the bench as an assistant coach under Tony Cipollone.  During his tenure, he coached 11 Division II All-Americans and 26 national qualifiers.  The Lakers never finished worse than third in the Division II East Regional Championships during his time.  As impressively, he coached 26 student-athletes who garnered all-academic team recognition. Hoogenboom earned his bachelors degree from Mercyhurst in business administration.  Outside of athletics, he has been a part of several successful ventures, including sales and real estate. A native of Twinsburg, Ohio, Hoogenboom is recently married to the former Nicole Green and the family resides in Concord Township. Kevin Hoogenboom Named Coordinator of... Lake Erie College Tabs Kevin Hoogenboom...