The SHS wrestling team lost seven seniors in the 2017 season. Two of the graduates were semi-state qualifiers Jeremiah Ford and Dayton Fries. Despite losing these key wrestlers, the team is looking forward to the opportunity to see what this upcoming season will have in store for them.

There are so many new wrestlers this year it is hard to find the room for them all to practice. There are roughly 40 wrestlers in the room at a time making it hard for them all to wrestle with the space they are given.

Senior Jaeden Battista works with the new wrestlers when they have questions and need help, which helps him in the long run.

“Trying to teach or coach my teammates I think helps me become a better wrestler,”  Battista said.

Assistant coach Sean Schmaltz also sees all the new wrestlers as a plus. He thinks the high numbers will help improve the program.

“We’ll be just fine. Numbers are better than ever and we are building a program,” Schmaltz said.

To make sure the teams stayed sharp, the wrestlers haven’t stopped wrestling since the 2017-2018 season. The team took advantage of the summer by utilizing all workouts possible per the IHSAA.  According to Schmaltz, both him and head coach Skinner feel like the guys put in a lot of work for the upcoming season.

The key returning wrestlers for the 2018-2019 season are the returning starters, sophomores Bryce Pardue,  Luke Goodwin, juniors Kuha thang, Sam Logan, Josh Moore and seniors Justin Tracy, Jaeden Batista and Payton Frye.

The team has many newcomers this season and are excited to see what they are capable of in our upcoming matches.

The first tournament is scheduled to be held at Arsenal Tech High School on Nov. 17 at 9 a.m.