The Orioles varsity wrestling season is officially underway.
Kicking things off Thursday, Dec. 4, the Orioles hosted a quad at home, welcoming Edgar, Durand-Arkansaw, and Blair-Taylor to competition and taking many wins.
Taking to the road two days later, the team competed at Black River Falls, with the girls coming away in second place, one point from first.
Oriole varsity head wrestling coach Jake Fitzsimmons shared more after results were in.
“It was great to start our season off at home, he said. “The girls competed in their first ever dual event as a team. They won three duals and lost a close dual to Edgar. Edgar is a team that will be our top competition during the regional tournament. Our boys wrestled hard and won two duals, but lost a close one to Edgar. We are back at home on Friday, December 19th.
“On Saturday the girls made program history! They took second place as a team in the 22 team tournament and received the first team trophy in program history. We were only one point away from taking first. We had three girls take second place in Kelsie Mateski 107, Lillian Fitzl 132, and Nevaeh Walters 145. Koraline Pennala 114 and Ava Kempf 120 took third. Ziva Blair took fourth. Overall our girls have started the season extremely well!
“On Saturday the boys were led by Willy Graham taking first at 215 as he pinned his way through the bracket. Aaron Sturm took second at 165 going 4-1. Other top boys were Ryan Bowe 150 and Aro Greenhow 106 who both placed sixth in a tough 22 team tournament! Carter Weltzin 285 was 1 match away from placing, but wrestled well.
“As a team we have started off really well, but need to keep making small adjustments to improve for the end of the season. This is a fun group of kids to coach and I am excited to see how they keep progressing.”
Now back from Black River Falls, the girls wrestle at Eau Claire Memorial Friday at 4:30 p.m., followed with a varsity invitational on Saturday at Barron high School. Start time at Barron is 9:00 a.m.