WEEKLY COMMUNICATION PLEASE READ!

Coach's Gratitude-
I want to say thank you to all of the parents who traveled to support our wrestlers as they competed this past weekend.  It means a great deal to our wrestlers and coaches to see familiar faces in the crowd. Thursday at Westland I think we had more fans in the stand then they did. Part of what makes duals like Friday exciting is the crowd enthusiasm, it was a great environment for wrestling. Sometimes I take that for granted as a coach, some teams never get to experience the joy of competing in duals.  Top that off some of you hit the road again on Saturday to support our wrestlers for the third day in a row, so once again I want to say thank you for not only supporting your wrestler but all of the Monarchs who take the mat. 

Wrestling Recap
This past week our Varsity team competed in two dual meets, as Coaches we enjoy dual meet competitions because we get the chance to watch every wrestler compete, we get to see how are team feeds off each other and responds to adversity.  Against Westland we were down early and our team came back and rattled off 10 straight wins. The match against Liberty was a back and forth match with the Patriots coming away with a 34-31 win, both teams won 7 matches a peice but bonus points were the difference. Understand that one of the foundational principles of our program is to seek out the best competition possible.  Coaches dislike losing as much as anyone else, but scheduling a bunch of teams we know we can beat will not help us discover our best versions of ourselves. This week we wrestle Coffman at home on Thursday and head north to the Top Gun invitational in Alliance on Friday and Saturday.
Individual Records from Thurs/Fri
2-0 Harley Crouseo, Lincoln Heard, Erryl Will, Christian McCartney, Joey Palmer, Zach McMinn
1-1 Nate Thompson, Jack Golla, Colton Powers, Parker Reese and Ben Bickerstaff
 

Girls team places 2nd at Ridgedale
The girls wrestling team captured their first ever team trophy with a runner-up finish at Ridgedale.  There were over 20 teams competing and 80 girls. Our wrestlers continue to impress on the girls side of the sport, with only a few competitions remaining I encourage all of you to get out and watch our ladies compete if you have the chance.
1st Place Finishers Madison Sharp and Shelbey Downey
2nd Place Laila Oribello and Destinee Fry
3rd Place Emma Swart
2-2 Cali Leng, 1-4 Rhiannon Gossett

JV team Champions at Whitehall
16 of our JV wrestlers took the mat at the Whitehall JV invitational capturing 1st place as a team. As coaches we challenged them to be more offensive, it was great to see some of them apply that to their wrestling. 
Individual Champs- Zach Pfarr, Blaze Hall, Riley (Bill) Miller, Ben Bickerstaff
2nd Place- Ethan Skiles
3rd Place-CJ Grose
5th Place- Emilio Guerrero,  Austin Romine, Brady Seger, Max Shroyer

Booster Meeting Reminder
Reminder we have a Parent Booster meeting Monday at 6:30 in the Studio, use Entrance I to enter the High School. Remember the more parents we have involved the more efficient we can be in moving our program forward. 

January is a Grind
We enter week 2 of 4 of our busiest schedules.  Please help your athlete in reinforcing the importance of rest and nutrition during this time. Resist the temptation to take them out and eat something outside of their typical meals. Discipline during these next three weeks will not only help them now but in the future. 

Watching Video
Our wrestling stats are again using Matboss to record our matches throughout the season.  Each wrestler should be able to log on to their account. If they have not created their account the will need the team code IHKFN3

Practice Schedule 

Morning Lifting M/W 6:15
Monday Wrestle offs 3:30-4 Practice 4-6
Tuesday Wrestle offs 3:30-4 (if needed) practice 4-6
Wednesday Practice 3:20-5:00 Open Room 5-6 for small group
Thursday Girls Practice 3:20-4:45
Friday Practice 3:20-5:00 (all wrestlers not competing at Top Gun)
 

Competition Schedule
As we begin the dual schedule it is important for parents to know that especially in JV matches we are limited to the other teams rosters.  While we certainly want every kid to have the chance to compete we don’t have any control over what other teams have available on those given evenings.

Thursday 1/16 Varsity/JV dual vs Coffman Home JV 6pm Varsity 7pm

Friday/Saturday 1/17-18 Varsity at Top Gun Invitational leave Thursday night in Vans
Wrestling begins at 9:30am on Friday and Saturday
400 Glamorgan St, Alliance, OH 44601

Saturday 1/18 Varsity “B” @ North Union  Leave 7:15 Weigh in 8:00 Wrestle 10:00
North Union High School, 401 N Franklin St, Richwood, OH 43344
 

On the horizon

Thursday 1/23 @ Upper Arlington
Friday/Saturday 1/24-25 Hepner Tournament in Austintown Fitch
Friday/Saturday 1/24-25 Varsity B @ Marion Pleasant 

Have a great week!

-Coach Andrews