Wrestling places fourth in Park Hills dual
The team finishes in the upper half of the first meet of the season
December 7, 2015
The wrestling team came in 4th place in its first meet of the season in the Park Hills duals at Park Hill High School on Saturday, Dec. 5. The team competed against eight teams from Missouri and Iowa and finished in the upper half, but according to senior Peyton Bendure, the team has usually done better in the past.
“We have a few unexperienced guys who haven’t wrestled much, and everyone needs to do their own part for the team to do well,” Bendure said. “We just have to support everyone and focus on getting them experience as well as talking to them about what they need to focus on at meets.”
Along with inexperience, the team was hindered by the amount of time they had to prepare with the recent football state championship win and how it affected the athletes involved in both wrestling and football.
“We faced a lot of tough teams but the biggest challenge was that the football team made it all the way to the state championship,” sophomore Conner Ward said. “There were a handful of guys on the team who had less than a week to prepare while other teams had over a month.”
As for the rest of the team, improvements still need to be made regarding individual performance in order to ensure success in upcoming meets, according to Bendure.
“Everyone needs to do their own part for the team to do well,” Bendure said. “We just kinda gotta go out there, scrap and if everybody does their best the team will do well.”
The team remains positive about the rest of the season and are excited for upcoming meets, according to Ward. Varsity will compete in the Staley duals at Staley High School on Saturday, Dec. 12 and the team will make its first appearance in one of the hardest tournaments in the country, the KC Stampede tournament at Hale Arena, spanning from Friday, Dec. 18-Saturday, Dec. 19.
“I expect us to go out there and win and keep competing. I think everyone in our lineup should make it to state, but that’s not our goal,” Ward said. “We want to win as a team and get as many individual places and championships as possible. We’ll see what happens.”
