The wrestling team has had intense conditioning practices in the wrestling room. They look to take down this season the same way they did last year. First on the agenda for the wrestlers was to meet new faces and wrestle different styles at the practice meets.

“Starting the year off with these big practice meets really will help us to better ourselves because we will get to wrestle a variety of styles with different techniques, and better yet, new faces than just the same five you wrestle with at practice everyday,” junior Zj Ward said.

The first match on the schedule was on Nov. 29, when the team traveled to Seneca Valley to have a practice meet. Multiple schools attended the meet such as Ambridge, Beaver, Thomas Jefferson High School and a few more. This was a big deal for the wrestling team because they got to have a bit of fun working with new kids and drills, as well as getting to see what is to come of this season’s performance.

The wrestling team had taken down Ellwood City with a score of 55 to 12 on Dec. 12.  The wrestlers had showed amazing performances to fill the spots as needed. After the practice before the match at Ellwood, the team felt confident going into the match. The atmosphere on the bus was intense due to the quiet wrestlers focusing on just how great they would do that night. During warm-ups the team practiced every move perfectly. Each wrestler came out that night and wrestled to the best of their abilities giving everything they had for the team.

“The only thing that is a struggle is that we just need to watch our weights a little more carefully so we don’t have some people over weight a day before the match,” replied junior Nick Wolf.

The team’s match for Thursday Dec. 14 against Butler was cancelled, but this did not stop the wrestling team. The team did not take a day off, and instead took the free day to have an intense day of practice. With the doors shut, and music blasting, the team practiced as if the meet was the next day. The sound of true champions practicing echoed throughout the empty school.

“I think that it was the hardest practice I have ever been to. We had almost everyone there and we practiced harder than we ever have. When we heard that Butler cancelled, our spirits had risen so much that everyone wanted to just push themselves to their breaking points. It could have been that we didn’t have to watch our weight for a couple of days, but it was a solid practice,” Wolfe and Ward said, collectively.