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The wrestling season is a grind – mentally as much as physically. Every wrestler will experience ups and downs throughout the season – sometimes over long periods of time. Other times all the emotions can be experienced in one day.
We try to encourage our athletes to stay as levelheaded as possible. That can be easier said than done, as a wrestler and as a coach. Friday night we knew the dual vs. Park Center was going to be tough but we were fired up and felt like we were ready. Unfortunately, we dropped some close matches, and the dual didn’t go our way. We then bounced back with a dominating 58-14 victory over rival Osseo. An exclamation point was added to the team victory by Senior Jackson Kilzer’s pin at heavyweight despite giving up 90 pounds to his opponent. I believe that was Jackson’s first ever Varsity win.
Senior Ben Schultz also became the all-time win leader in Maple Grove Wrestling history with 173 career Varsity wins. I can’t think of a team record that I’d rather earn – what an awesome accomplishment!! Congrats Ben!
We were right back at it on Saturday, and we responded well to the early morning after a late night. We were able to win our pool thanks in part to another dominate victory over a solid Eastview team. Eastview was the second seed in the tournament, but we wrestled as well as we’ve wrestled all season and came out on top 47-19. Freshman Gavin Muhlstein got the momentum rolling in the right direction with his first career Varsity win (and pin).
Unfortunately, that’s where the fun ended for the day as we ran out of gas against Mounds View in the finals. While a loss is also a learning opportunity, unfortunately, we came out of that dual even more banged up than we came in.
Our girls also wrestled tough at the Eden Prairie girl’s tournament. On the Varsity size Elizabeth took second, Russo took third, and Kathrine took 10th. On the JV side Carol (‘Cici’) took first, while Angela and Jovie took 4th and Brooklyn took 6th. It sounds like it was a good experience for the girls.
On the JV side at Mounds view we had a number of champions including: Gavin M. (who was 5-0 on the day including JV and Varsity), Ahmed U., Logan Buman, Nolan L., Richmond T., and Dylan B.
The next two weeks will take us into the start of our post season (9th graders). It’s time to really buy in and embrace the grind. If we can do that it’s going to be a lot of fun to see if we can continue to earn more than our fair share of highs!
At St. Michael with Hopkins. The bus leaves at 3:15p with weigh-ins starting at 4p and wrestling beginning at 5p. Maple Grove will wrestle around 6p (vs. Hopkins) and around 7p (vs. STMA).
Home vs. Armstrong, Centennial, and Two Rivers. Schedule as follows:
Wrestling Room at 3:10p
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.
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 Instagram and/or Facebook (along with this article). If you are an Instagram or Facebook user, please like our page. Thanks!
Thanks for all the support you all provide for our wrestlers as they go through the inevitable emotions of a wrestling season. Looking forward to seeing each our wrestlers stay focused and continuing to grind towards the goal of reaching their peak level. Can’t wait to see where it all goes. See you all soon.
As always let me know if anybody has any questions.
Coach Troy
763-913-0601