Overall, the 2019-2020 3A Special District 3 tournament was good for us considering we are in the biggest special district with 10 teams. Most of the teams are pretty tough and have numbers which at this level, makes all the difference. Considering the addition of 4 pretty strong programs that have several individuals ranked in the top 3 and or returning State placers and Champions, I feel we fared well with senior Ben Beuhler finishing 6th at 120, Josh Bakas Petty finishing 6th at 138, Josiah Hath finishing 5th at 145, William miller finishing 6th at 152, and Thomas Farley finishing 6th at 170.
I am most impressed with the performance of Senior wrestler Averi Winn, who avenged a loss from earlier in the season over the #2 ranked 285lb in the state by fall in the first period to win his second District Championship in as many years.
Averi is the only returning state placer (6th 2019) and currently ranked #3 possibly moving up this week to # 2. He has come a long way in his 3rd season of the sport and wrestling well and has a really good shot of moving up the podium this year.
We definitely have a long way to go as a program as far as increasing numbers as well as gaining wrestlers with experience. We feel really good about the future due to the increase and retention of wrestlers at the Youth and Middle School programs.
Our current wrestlers have done well considering most have only been wrestling for only 2-4 years. They really work hard and are dedicated to the sport, but have some personal work to do to make improvements on to increase their ability to compete at the high school level.
Our biggest issue has been the lack of off-season preparation in the weight room. Wrestling is a sport that requires strength, conditioning, technique as well as mental toughness. Our kids all placed but we only take the top 3 placers this year as opposed to the top 4, in recent years. I am proud of what they accomplished and we have several of them returning next year. As a program, our hope is that they take the time to put in the work necessary to be able to make it to state next year.
