The Start of a New Season

By Aleks Stacy

The 22-23 wrestling season started with fewer members as a large group of experienced wrestlers either graduated or left the team. Only three wrestlers fully returned from last year’s season: sophomore Robert Evans along with seniors Landon Kuykendoll and Owen Falk. 

Having to start a season with many new and inexperienced wrestlers can be hard on a coach. It requires time to teach new skills that athletes have no experience with. “The biggest struggle is making sure everyone is prepared for the process of wrestling in a meet or invitational,” said head coach Michael Buschman. “There are a lot of things coaches forget that new wrestlers don’t know, and when a lot of the team is new, there aren’t as many wrestlers to help them get acclimated.”

With that being said, new wrestlers started by taking the challenge of their new sport seriously. They see the sport as a great way for students to leave their day at school and get physically active more so than other sports. “I love being able to get as aggressive as possible and not get carded for it like in soccer,” said junior Eriahna Vela. “It’s tough, but I enjoy the challenge.”

The returning members aren’t holding back either, they started the season ready to lead their fellow wrestlers in warmups, drills, and tips along the way. “I like helping my teammates out any way that I can,” said senior Owen Falk.

But this inexperienced start leaves plenty of room for progress throughout the season. There are wrestling feats new members and coaches have set as their goals. “As a concrete goal, we would like to have at least a couple wrestlers with winning records and would like to finish as the top “half squad” in the conference. There are usually a few teams that have a hard time filling very many weight classes, and we would like to be the best of those teams,” said coach Buschman.