The junior high wrestling team had their last match Saturday, February 7, at Sharon High School. This has been a very good season, not just for the matches but also for the team. There were new wrestlers who stood up and did really well.
“I am most proud of our growth as a team,” Mr. Cole Eged, junior high wrestling coach, stated. They had four kids place at the Sharon match: Carter Dambach (8) 1st place, Caden Roche (7) 1st place, Nolan Andrews (8) 4th place, and Lucas Schomburg (7) 4th place.
“The wrestling season is very long, it is very hard. So when we have opportunities to compete we want to try to make those as fun as possible. Be prepared to work hard, work harder than you ever had. But it will make you better in the long run,” Mr. Eged gives advice for the kids moving up to the junior high team. The junior high wrestling team will be ending this season on a high note and will be looking forward to next year. The eighth graders will be moving up to high school, making way for the kids coming up through the program.
“Even when things get hard don’t give up because if you don’t give up you could go big,” Eli Bruce (8) stated advice for the senior wrestlers in the youth wrestling program.
The youth wrestling team had their last tournament on February 13 at Canon Macmillon. They had an amazing season and plan to do the same next year.
“The thing that I was most proud of this season was that we finished 11th place at the WAWA tournament out of 26 teams,” Mr. John Malsh, youth wrestling head coach, stated. “While 11th place might not seem that great, 9 of those teams are associated with 3A schools. Freedom is a 2A school. That means we are right up there as one of the top programs of our size.”
The WAWA tournament is the biggest tournament that is not states. Some of the wrestlers will go on to compete in states, which are tournaments that you have to qualify for. First, you have to go to the qualifiers and place high to go on to the actual tournament. Kids from all around Pennsylvania can go to these tournaments.
“To prepare the senior wrestlers to move up to the junior high program we’d like to be a little bit harder on them, so that they can excel at the next level. We try to show them more advanced moves, and I try to get them a match before one of the high school matches, so that they can see what it is like,” Malsch explains how they get senior youth wrestlers ready for the next level. The youth wrestling program had 85 kids sign up, and 65 compete in matches and tournaments. This is about 20 more than last year. Even though they are losing the senior wrestlers, the younger wrestlers will keep on improving, and soon enough they will be the stars of the team.
Both teams had an amazing season. They had their wins and their losses, but they kept working through them. Everyone seems to be ready for the obstacles that they will face in the future.
