From the mats to medalling

Nov. 16th marked the beginning of the season that was hoped to break MN’s previous records. Now, as the wrestling season nears to its end, wrestlers have become more focused on meeting their ultimate match: being the best they can be in order to succeed this season. However, they are not quite reaching their full potential. Yet, Wrestling Coach Scott Loveless knows how to get his wrestlers to reach his expectations.

With expectations high the team has thus far wrestled their heart out.

“Our goals as a team is to always be at top in February, which is something that we have not done in the last few years,” Loveless said.

When Loveless refers to “the top” he is speaking of both on top of the charts and on top of their opponents. There are many different ways to score in wrestling. For example, is a wrestler is able to get their opponent to fall, the standing wrestler would win the match. The fall of their opponent would give the standing wrestler an added fifteen points for their team.
So far the team is ranked fifth in the state with a total of 1581.5 points.

The objectives of each member differ from one another. Each wrestler has their personal goals for each season. And each wrestler has their own ways of obtaining these goals. For example, sophomore Brandon Eastlack is setting the bar high for himself.
So far, Eastlack has earned 103 points for his team, making him one of the best wrestlers. He has had a total of eighteen wins and has only taken a loss four times.

“My goal for this year is to be able to make it to state and also to medal,” Eastlack said.

With expectations high, the wrestlers are put under a large amount of pressure. However, this pressure is what makes them stronger, only pushing them to work on their weaknesses.

“The season isn’t going as I well as I had hoped. I could blame it on stress, but ultimately it comes down to me not being aggressive enough during certain matches,” senior Tim Reznicek said.

The separation of wrestlers is what makes wrestling matches fair. The wrestlers are separated by weight into fourteen different weight classes. The classes start with 106 pounders and go all the way up to the heavy weights. Which could be anywhere around 300 pounds.

Pinpointing weak points is the key to claiming a match; both on the opponent and on one’s self. When accepting weakness, one can learn how to become stronger. With the season progressing, the wrestlers have continued to develop in both their body strength and control.

“We have not reached our potential yet. We are getting better every week and as coach that is pretty exciting, but as a team we have to push the pace more in matches. We cannot be timid; we need to take the fight to our opponents. When we do that we are pretty good,” Loveless said.

From the beginning of the season, Loveless’s plans were to guide his wrestlers into gradually getting better so that by February the wrestlers would be at their peak. As their deadline approaches, practices become shorter in order to relieve stress while still helping the students remain in a healthy position.

“We condition pretty hard at the beginning of the season to get into shape and then back off as competitions get close. The closer we get to February the shorter the practices get, but the intensity stays high. We want healthy bodies that time of year,” Loveless said.

As the season approaches its end, wrestlers are more than ready to meet their match. Under the guidance of Loveless, and under the pressure of their own goals, wrestlers have what they need in order to succeed