The Saint Louis High School wrestling season started for the 2024-2025 school year! The wrestling team of SLHS is a staple of what it means to be a Shark: to fight and win. This sport is a hit when it comes to the student body and coach, Mr. Kuhn, to help them get as far as they do. With perseverance and determination, the team can achieve whatever they put their minds to.
This season, the expectations are higher than ever before. According to coach Kuhn, “Last year, we took a big step by winning in the team state semifinals as we had fallen short in that round the two years prior. It was an amazing feeling to know that we would be wrestling for a team state title on Saturday night on the biggest stage in front of a packed arena. This was something I had thought about for my entire career. However, I had always visualized winning and not losing to my old coach and to the team I grew up competing for. As we move into the 2025 season, the expectations are higher than they have ever been. Last season, we were state runners-up and so the next step is a state title. We have the ability to achieve this goal, so I am excited to get started.”
It isn’t just the coach who is more than ready to take the Sharks to the finals, but so are those who will be competing in the competitions. One of the wrestlers is senior Genaro Soto, who has been in wrestling for six years. Soto said, “I feel excited for the season to be starting up again, but also I have a sense of sadness. This is my last year. I feel like it’s gonna be hard to get over practice every day when I’m accustomed to it, and I’ll miss my teammates at the meets. The whole lifestyle of wrestling I’ll miss. I have been wrestling since sixth grade, not counting COVID, and I know I’ve improved since then. I’ve come a very long way from what I was when I first started, but I definitely still have things to learn this year before the season ends.”
Staff and students alike are ready for the wrestling year to kick off with a bang. As the senior wrestlers get ready for their final season of their school year, the freshmen enter the SLHS ring to take the place of those who are departing for the class of 2025.
Kuhn concluded, “We always look forward to the postseason. I love the atmosphere of a tough team duel, and we will be prepared since I significantly increased the toughness of the teams on our schedule. We will be exposed to some of the best teams in the state in all divisions, and this will help us take on all that division four has to offer.”
