With wrestling season starting, the team has big expectations for this season. After losing State-level senior wrestlers from last season, new leaders are stepping up and being leaders on the team. This team has high expectations and are hoping to be district champions for both boys and girls.
¨[Wrestling’s] just great competition,¨ coach Jeff Knight said. ¨There’s no hiding. I mean, it’s one-on-one. It builds confidence in our athletes, and it teaches self-discipline. We schedule a really tough, preseason schedule before district. We wrestle mostly 6A schools, and also we go to mostly tournaments with 6A schools. So it’s a really tough preseason, but we got to just strive to get better each week.¨
Senior captain Khloe King said that going up against these bigger schools helps properly prepare not only her, but the entire program for district opponents.
“Going against those bigger, more aggressive schools it gives us harder matches before we go against 5A,” King said.
King said she looks forward to the season and hopes to return to State, which she did as a sophomore. There has been increased interest in wrestling with the team having its largest size ever this year with 70 participants.
With so many new faces, senior captain Josh Corkern has been eager to lead by example and even notes how the younger, less experienced wrestlers have helped him prepare for his matches.
¨Teaching the new wrestlers helps not only prepare me for my matches but it also helps me focus on the things I need to work on as well,¨ Corkern said. ¨Being a part of such a technical sport where it’s more about technique and knowing how to leverage properly, practice is very important and has a major effect on my performance in matches. During practice, you practice a couple moves that you want to use in the match and then you just hope it becomes muscle memory during the match.¨
Knight is looking forward to the season and can’t wait to see all the hard work payoff when district comes on Feb. 1. His advice to his veteran wrestlers and all of his newcomers is the same.
¨Have confidence in yourself,” Knight said. “You put the work in and if you wrestle your best, then success will come.”
