MS wrestling program swells with athletes, wins

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Jefferson County middle school wrestlers racked up 20 wins in last week’s big road trip to Forks.

It was the team’s third of five Olympic League wrestling matches, and it was a happy ride home.

“We won 20 matches last week, which was another great accomplishment for these hard-working athletes,” noted Coach Jim Wilcox. 

“These wrestlers are really starting to put moves together on the mat, we are seeing chain wrestling take shape right in front of us. It is great to see so many kids in our middle school program, and boy they sure look hungry out there for action.”

Forks hosted the meet Wednesday, March 9.

A number of East Jefferson wrestlers earned kudos from coaches.

For sixth-grader Zeke Banks: “Zeke brings an intensity level to practice that the room loves. He pushes the other kids to keep up with him and wrestles hard.  Zeke has three wins on the year and has the third most takedowns on the team. That is a great start for his first year of middle school wrestling!”

Seventh-grader Silas Morford: “Silas has one of the biggest motors on the team.  He explodes from the bottom position, currently ranked second overall in the number of escapes compiled during matches. The match score doesn’t faze Silas one bit; he likes to wrestle at 110 percent and put more than everything out there on the mat. Win or lose, Silas is one of the most entertaining athletes to watch compete because his pace is fun to try to follow.”

Eighth-grader Rylen Kruse: “Rylen works hard every day at practice and seems to be constantly thinking of ways to improve his performance. Not only is he a hard worker on the mat, I also see he has a keen focus on improving his technique. Last week Rylen lost a close match by two points to a Forks wrestler. Rylen continued to attack through the match and seemed to get stronger the longer he wrestled. Had there been a fourth period, the coaches were confident Rylen would have had two wins that day. I am very excited to see his progress this season.  He shows a strong desire to learn more.”

The middle school wrestling team continues to grow in eligible athletes. This was the first week this season they had 20 athletes able to compete. All the coaches could not recall ever having that many athletes on a middle school wrestling team.