Coach Troy's High School Update: Weeks 7 & 8
Crimson Wrestlers, Managers, and Families-
Week Five/Six Recap:
I hope everyone had a Joyful and Blessed Christmas. On both ends of the Christmas season, we’ve had two of our biggest and toughest tournaments of the season--one behind us (Redwood), and one coming up this week (Rogers). These tournaments are a great opportunity to see where we are at and will go a long way towards helping us determine what areas need to be prioritized to ensure we are at our best come the end of the season.
For those who have been there consistently, these past two week of practices and competitions have been our best stretch of the season. We’ve had some of our most focused practices – and many athletes have shown they are determined to get the most out of their abilities. It's our goal to use this stretch as a turning point in our season and we feel really good about preparation turning into desired results going into the new year – especially for those who are able to be consistent in their attendance, effort, and participation.
Many of our wrestlers have wrestled their best matches of the season of late. Redwood had 32 teams - we had wrestlers on all levels leave with hardware. JV wrestled in 8 person brackets. We had 3 champions (Khoa Nguyen, Max Schroeder, and Benyam Reda) along with three 2nd place finishers (Beckett Seubert, Jonah Prum, and Gavin Thompson). The girls’ brackets were mostly 16 and 32 person brackets, and our girls earned 7 top 5 finishes (Elizabeth Ofuasia – 1st, CC Stevenson - 2nd, Russo Capel – 2nd, Camden Rodriguez-Hild – 3rd, Brooklyn True – 4th, Kathrine Melton – 5th, and Madena Barjolo – 5th).
On the boys Varsity, we had our first two-time Champion in school history (Connor Peterson). Connor controlled every match from start to finish and earned the tournaments ‘Most Outstanding Wrestler’ award in the process for the second week in a row. Connor is off to a crazy start (19-0 with 18 of his wins coming via tech falls or falls). Connor has also tied the school win record in the process.
There are going to be lots of great matches for our wrestlers in the coming weeks, and I’m looking forward to seeing exactly where we are at as well as seeing many of our wrestlers get opportunities to contribute. It’s going to be fun second half of the season with a number of wrestlers turning great practices into competition day high level successes. Here are the details you'll need for the TWO weeks ahead.
Week 7 Practice/Meet Schedule:
Monday, 12.29 (9a – 11a): Wrestling Room 9a – 11a for all and 11a – 12p for wrestlers who have wrestled varsity this season or hope to wrestle varsity during the second part of the season (as well as any others who would like to attend). Wrestlers should plan to wear their wrestling shoes and bring their tennis shoes for the 11a – 12p practice.
Tuesday, 12.30 (9a – 11a): Wrestling Room 9a – 11a for all and 11a – 12p for wrestlers who have wrestled varsity this season or hope to wrestle varsity during the second part of the season (as well as any others who would like to attend). Wrestlers should plan to wear their wrestling shoes and bring their tennis shoes for the 11a – 12p practice.
Wednesday, 12.31 (9a – 11a): Wrestling Room 9a – 11a for all and 11a – 12p for wrestlers who have wrestled varsity this season or hope to wrestle varsity during the second part of the season (as well as any others who would like to attend). Wrestlers should plan to wear their wrestling shoes and bring their tennis shoes for the 11a – 12p practice.
Thursday, 1.1 New Year’s Day – As of right now we don’t have a place to workout as a team (the school will not allow us in). The goal would be to get together for a short practice around 3p. However, as it looks now, most likely wrestlers will need to workout on their own and make sure they are down to weight independently. At minimum I’ll have access to the scale if anyone would like to connect to check their weight.
Friday, 1.2 Things get a little complex this weekend starting Friday. All of our Varsity Wrestlers (minus Connor – who will be wrestling at the Rumble on the Red), All of our girls, and all of our light weight JV wrestlers will wrestle this day at Rogers. Rogers is supposed to let us know what constitutes a “light weight” JV wrestler later on this week and I’ll communicate with them once I hear. The bus will leave from the school at 7:15a. There won’t be a bus home so any wrestler without a parent at the tournament can car pool with other wrestlers who have a ride home.
Saturday, 1.3 We have wrestlers in action in FOUR different locations this day. They are as follows:
Rogers: Varsity Wrestlers who are still in (less than 2 losses) and our Upper Weight JV wrestlers. Weigh-ins are at 8a with an extra pound. There is no bus – wrestlers will just meet at Rogers at 7:30a for weigh-ins.
Rumble on the Red: Connor is competing at the Rumble on the Red with a 7:15a weigh-in (with a +3) and a 9a wrestling start time.
Champlin Park: All girls are in action at a girl’s only tournament. There is no bus – girls will just meet at Champlin Park High School at 8:30a for weigh-ins. Wrestling is set to being at 11a.
Eastview: JV/9th grade duals at Eastview. Bus will leave at 7:15a. We will wrestle 4 duals and should be done around 2p. From here on out we will have the two-pound growth allowance and the 9th grade league weights will be used (94 = 96, 100 = 102, 107 = 109, 114 = 116, etc.).
Projected wrestlers for Saturday’s tournament will be communicated throughout the week but here is the initial roster:
94 – Lamond, Mason?
100 – Nathan P.
107 – Beckett/Ollie/Egan (if they are eliminated from the Rogers Tournament), Adrian?
114 – Grant B.?
121 – Owen, London
127 – Max S.? Gabe M.? Ayman A.?
133 – Jonah (if eliminated from the Rogers Tournament), Nico, Azuz?
139 – Open
145 – Max S., Jack S., Gavin T., Sean S.?
152 – Keagan L.? Isaiah C.?
160 – Logan B. (if they are eliminated from the Rogers Tournament, Caleb B.?
172 – Bryson M., Eliseo C.
189 – Tiberius N.
Hwt. – Alvin L.
Wrestlers not competing Saturday will practice at 9a.
Week 8 Practice/Meet Schedule:
Monday, 1.5 – Strength Training at 2:10p; Wrestling room at 3:10p.
Tuesday, 1.6 – A.M.: Morning practice at 5:45a for-Varsity wrestlers and others who bring a partner.
Tuesday, 1.6 - P.M.: Strength Training at 2:10p; Wrestling room at 3:10p.
Wednesday, 1.7 – Wrestling room at 3:10p.
Thursday, 1.8 – At Hopkins with Eden Prairie
3:15p – Bus Leaves
4p - Weigh-ins
5p – First Dual (Order TBD)
6:15p – Second Dual (Order TBD)
7:30p – Third Dual (Order TBD)
Friday, 1.9 – Wrestling room at 3:10p.
Saturday, 1.10 – Boys Varsity and J.V. Mounds View Tournament – Duals for Varsity and Individual for J.V. Bus leaves at 6:45a with wrestling to begin at 9a. Wrestling will be over early afternoon. Growth allowance to be announced as I receive more information.
The girls will be at Eden Prairie this day. The bus is Scheduled to leave at 7a with more information to come as it communicated to me.
Youth Practices:
We are asking all wrestlers to help coach at two youth practice per season (one night) and for Varsity wrestlers to commit to four practices in a season (two nights). Thank you to those wrestlers who have already completed their practices for the season. This week’s practice dates are Monday, 1.5 and Wednesday, 1.7 from 6p – 7p and 7p - 8:15p. We’d like to have two wrestlers signed up for each practice. Both practices currently have openings for coaching help. Please let me know if you/your wrestlers are available to help this week.
2025 – 2026 Wrestler of the Week Honors:
Week 2: Alex Fox, Max Schroeder, Alyssa Pearson
Week 3: Egan Hong, Charlotte Nadolski
Week 4: Reese Redlinger, Brooklyn True, Gabe Mullen
Week 5: Connor Peterson, Elizabeth Ofuasia, and Khoa Nguyen
Mat Boss Video Access:
You have noticed our amazing managers are recording (as well as scoring) our matches. We will work to send out personal invites to wrestlers during the downtime at Redwood so they can watch their videos. Wrestlers will only have access to their own matches.
We are also doing what we can to ensure the matches are uploaded and as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, with events sometimes having 6 or more mats we will not be able to record every match. Wrestlers/Parents are encouraged to have someone record their own matches for review purposes as well.
Watching matches opens up all kinds of cool possibilities for the team. The most basic of which is that each wrestler can watch their matches once they are uploaded. Watching back matches can be a great learning tool and is highly encouraged. Have your wrestler make sure I receive their email address and look for their invite to begin utilizing this valuable tool.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.
Crossbar and Future Communication:
Lastly if you haven’t, please download the Crossbar App and register to receive future communications at www.crimson-wrestling.com. Parents and wrestlers can each sign up to receive future communications and schedule changes through the Crossbar app by going to Crimson-Wrestling.com. Please let me know if you have any questions with this as we will use this app for communications throughout the season.
These next couple of weeks should have a little bit of everything. A big tough tournament that should test everyone (Rogers/Rumble on the Red), A couple all girls tournaments that should have plenty of tough competition, JV/9th grade Duals, and our one Varsity Boys Dual tournament of the season. Should be an exciting stretch of the season with lots of action and plenty of opportunities to get better. Looking forward to it.
Go Crimson!
Coach Troy
Mgwrestling99@gmail.com
763-913-0601