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Crimson Wrestlers, Managers, and Families-
Week Nine Recap:
This past week offered some of the best competition we see this season with the dual against a top team in St. Michael on Thursday (when we also wrestled Hopkins), as well as a tournament at East Ridge chalk full of high-end talent this past Saturday.
Within those two events we saw some of the best Crimson wrestling of the season. Judging by the way we competed, I would estimate no fewer than seven of our Varsity guys wrestled as well or better than I’ve ever seen them. It’s exciting to see the positives strides that are taking place and provides a lot of hope as we start turn our focus to peaking at the end of season tournaments (9th grade sections/state, JV Conference, Team/Individual Sections, and the state tournament).
East Ridge was a 19-team tournament. We had 25 wrestlers competing – 16 on JV and 9 on Varsity.
On the JV all of our wrestlers competed hard and got better throughout the day. With 19 teams – the JV brackets were big – with up to 16 wrestlers in some weights. We had a number of wrestlers pick up wins and many others come up just short. Six wrestlers took home a top six placement including 7th grader Logan Belchak (4th); Eighth graders Damian Seubert (2nd), Reese Redlinger (3rd), Alex Fox (4th), Logan Buman (3rd); and Sophomore Jackson Neighbors-Rahkola (6th).
The Varsity weight classes were strong and deep – with multiple weight classes having multiple returning state place winners, 3-4 state place winners, and/or 8-10 wrestlers with records above .500. It was a good day for the Crimson – with eight wrestlers winning at least one match, six winning two or more, and four competing in the placement round. Final placements included Champion Ben Schultz; 3rd place finishers Connor Peterson; 5th place finisher Max Johnson and sixth place finisher Ayden Gunville. Each wrestler did some impressive things but I believe all nine wrestlers also left with a better idea of how they need to wrestle to succeed and some additional things to work on. This is exactly why we seek out top competition like this.
Looking forward to getting back to work and seeing the team continue improving this week. Here are the details you'll need for the week ahead.
Week 10 Practice/Meet Schedule:
Monday, 1.23 – Practice: Weight Room at 2:10p; Wrestling room at 3:10p.
Tuesday, 1.24 – Practice: Weight Room at 2:10p; Wrestling room at 3:10p. 9th grade Sections and Saturday South St. Paul Varsity wrestle offs as needed.
Wednesday, 1.25 – Practice: Weight Room at 2:10p; Wrestling room at 3:10p.
Thursday, 1.26 – Practice: Wrestling room at 3:10p.
Friday, 1.27 – At Centennial, Coon Rapids, and St. Cloud. The schedule has not yet been released but I anticipate a 4p weigh in time. If that’s the case the bus will leave at 3:10p as soon as the middle school guys get to the high school.
Saturday, 1.29 – We once again have two tournaments this weekend. We are able to enter 1 7th/8th/9th grader into Saturday’s 9th grade sections at Anoka. Everyone else will wrestle JV and Varsity at the South St. Paul Tournament. Details for each tournament is as follows:
Varsity/JV – At South St. Paul for an individual Tournament. Bus leaves at 7a. Wrestling is set to begin by 10a.
9th Grade Individual Sections Tournament – At Anoka High School. The top two finishers in each weight class will advance to the 9th grade state tournament. The bus will leave MGSH at 7:15a with no return bus (I’m assuming we’ll have numerous parents attending who will be willing to provide rides home for those who may not have a parent in attendance – I’ll try and start to coordinate rides at practice this week).
Mat Boss Video Access:
Many wrestlers are now watching their matches on Mat Boss each week – which is awesome! This is a great opportunity for kids to learn from their matches and improve at a much faster rate than would otherwise be possible. Watching back matches can be a great learning tool and is highly encouraged. Please let me know if you/your wrestler has not been able to get in to Mat Boss and would like to do so or if you have any other questions. Thanks.
Sports Engine, Facebook Page and Future Communication:
Lastly please download the Sports Engine App and sign up to receive future communications. Parents and wrestlers can each sign up to receive future communications and schedule changes through the Sports Engine app by going to Crimson-Wrestling.com. If you have any challenges with this, please text me your email address at 763-913-0601 and I’ll make sure you are added to the app portion. Please let me know if you have any questions with this as we will use this app for communications throughout the season.
Also, we often post fun pictures or related articles on the Maple Grove High School Wrestling Page on Facebook (along with this article). If you are a Facebook user, please like our page. Thanks!
Can’t believe we are already in the last full week of January! The time is now to ensure we are doing everything in our power to excel come the tournaments that matter most. Each week is becoming increasingly important. The plan is to put it all together at the right time and each match is giving us an indicator of where we are at and what we can still improve on. The next few weeks will continue to guide our preparation – while also giving us an idea of what our best wrestling looks like. Definitely looking forward to a fun and exciting end to the season.
As always let me know if anybody has any questions.
Coach Troy
763-913-0601