After the first week of competition, the St. Louis wrestling team went 2-0 at their Quad against Belding and Lakeview, and brought home a second place trophy from the Swan Valley invite.

“For a young team, it’s nice to see that we are able to compete with most teams. However, I think, overall, we could be much more aggressive and need to initiate more offense,” said Coach Kuhn.

The Sharks began the quad by facing Belding. The squad knew going into the first dual match that they would have to wrestle at their best in order to come out victorious. The beginning of the match started out rough with four out of the first six matches being losses. However, once the lineup came to the middle weights, seniors Eli Abbott, Ryan Downs, Issac Howd, and Jacob Brown swept it away by winning all of their matches in a row. St. Louis overall beat Belding 48-30.

After defeating Belding, the Sharks moved on to wrestle Lakeview. The team defeated the Wildcats 66-15. Going 2-0 on the night were Alex Newton, Luke Maxwell, Brown, Downs, and Abbott. Earning their first varsity points was Alex McDonald, Reece Giles, and Craig Bebow.

According to Eli Abbott, “I think for our first meet we did pretty good. With our team being as young as it is, with almost two-thirds of it being freshmen, I am pleased to see how well we are doing. I think with more practice on technique and skills, we have the potential to be a successful team.”

At the Swan Valley Invite Saturday, Dec. 8, the team went 4-1 and came out as runner-ups. In pool play, the Sharks beat Ogemaw Heights 48-34, Traverse City Central 64-12, and Manistee 69-12. In the semi-finals, they wrestled Sanford-Meridian and won 54-28. However, in the finals Croswell-Lexington beat the Sharks 62-18. Ryan Downs went 5-0 during the day and received a well-deserved gold medal. Going 4-1 on the day was Gavin Giles, Modestie Hitchcock, Issac Howd, and Luke Maxwell.

This week, Ryan Downs was named Wrestler of the Week as well. Downs so far has a perfect record of 7-0 and has earned 42 team points as well. “I feel very honored to be named wrestler of the week and I am super excited to see what this year brings the team.” said Ryan Downs.