It is that time of the year again. When the fall sports come to a close, it’s time for the winter sports season to begin.
The “hardest working athletes”, the wrestling team, began their demanding season the first week of November.
“We do a lot of running,” said junior Jordan Henry.
Henry was a captain of the team last season, earned a 25-12 overall record, and has been competing with the wrestling team since his freshman year.
“Laps in the center and sprints are what we usually do. On top of all the running, obviously we wrestle which is tough,” said Henry.
The team held offseason conditioning workouts where members of the team would run and lift weights. With the added work, the team hopes to improve on the 4-5-0 record from a year ago.
“Last year we struggled as a team.  I expect our record to be better. We only lost three seniors and a junior from last season,” said Henry.
As with most teams, there are some losses in terms of participants every year.  For example, senior Luke Madson will not be wrestling this year for other athletic reasons.
“I wouldn’t say the team will struggle a lot without him. He was a good part of the team, but our coaches do a good job teaching us how to get better and also some underclassmen can step up,” added Henry.
Along with the coaching staff, other positives of the team are the athletic background of most of the members.
Most of the team participated in a fall sport, which adds understanding of the team concept.
“We have kids from football, soccer, and cross country,” said Henry.  “In my two years here, we haven’t had that before. Hopefully that is a good sign.”
Along with the turnout of fall athletes, there are a lot of freshman competing this year. The team this year has about eight or nine freshman trying out.
“Last year we had about the same number. It just means that freshman have to step up and wrestle upperclassmen. As long as they work hard in practice and remember what the coaches taught them, they should be fine,” explained Henry.
Once last season ended, some members of the team went right into preparing for this season.
“I am just excited to get the season going. We have worked hard in the offseason and it’s about that time to show off what we can do,” said Henry.
The team’s first meet will be on December 1 at Chaminade.