The St. Louis High School wrestling team had its second meet on Saturday, Dec. 7. Later in the week, meets took place Thursday, Dec. 12, and Friday, Dec. 13.
The Thursday meet started at 1:30 p.m., cutting into the school day, and allowing students to attend for free. Starting against Alma, the Sharks quickly took the initiative and pinned their opponents. In a few matches, the Sharks were awarded victory by default due to Alma not being able to fill the weight classes. Junior wrestler Michael Borie stated, “Besides practice, Coach Kuhn teaches us breathing exercises and positive affirmations to make sure that we can perform well under pressure. When we let anxiety and negative thoughts get to us before a match, it makes it harder to perform to the best of our abilities.”
The Sharks ended the match winning 75-3. When it came to the next team, Sparta, St. Louis was, once again, awarded victory, but it was much closer 45-2. Junior and wrestler Owen Fogel shared, “I think with the meet on Thursday, we could’ve done better. It was pretty slow at the start.”
The meet Friday started at 5 p.m. sharp and ended around 9:30 p.m. The Sharks faced a huge challenge going against five different schools. However, with the coaches’ support, St. Louis emerged victorious, leaving them with a record of 9-0. Borie further said, “The key to maintaining our winning streak is for everyone to play their role. We need to keep making important pins and continue to not get pinned. If everyone plays their role for the team, we will be unbeatable.”
The match against Chesaning ended with a score of 76-3, Frankenmuth 68-12, Ionia 74-6, and Fulton 77-6. Fogel later added, “On Friday I would say we were pretty well-rounded. It was cool that everyone could participate in matches.” In one of the matches, St. Louis faced its own “B” team and won 84-0 due to forfeit.
The next match is Dec. 18, in Ogemaw. The Sharks will come in undefeated and hope to leave as such. Borie lastly declared, “Even if we didn’t win, wrestling would be worth it because it puts you in the best shape of your life, and as Coach Kuhn says, wrestling makes everything else in your life seem easy.”
