The Sharks wrestling team competed at the team state tournament in Kalamazoo Friday, Feb. 21 and Saturday Feb. 22.
The Sharks came into the state tournament with an impressive 28-0 record where they first faced off against a tough Charlevoix team Friday afternoon in the first round. The Sharks came out on top 65-9 in that matchup. Saturday morning the Sharks came in ready to wrestle where they faced their toughest opponent yet in Climax Scotts-Martin. The Sharks started this duel off strong jumping out to a 12-0 lead, but Martin fought back and it came down to the last match where the Martin 106-pounder came away with the win to eliminate the Sharks by a score of 30-25.
Genaro Soto, a senior for St. Louis, wrestled his last ever match with the team in the semi-finals, and he had this to say about his time in St. Louis, “It sucks. I mean we accomplished a lot as a team, but we could’ve been so much more, and I’m gonna miss this team and this sport.”
Cole Grollimund, a freshman for the Sharks wrestled in his first ever team state tournament and can’t wait for what’s to come with Shark wrestling. “At team state, we didn’t wrestle to our full potential. We had people getting tech falls which is very good but not the pin we needed. Overall, we overlooked Martin thinking we had an easy ticket to the finals. We got into our own heads thinking we would stomp every opponent we faced because that’s what we did this entire year. Next year we will be back and we will get the pins we need and everyone will do their job. This team will have many hammers in the next few years, and I can’t wait to be back in that exact same position but do what we need to do.”
The Sharks still have 10 guys preparing to compete for individual state titles this weekend at Ford Field. They are Rudy Clapp, Owen Fogel, Cole Grollimund, Alex Rodriguez, Colin Kuhn, Laythan Haworth, Maddox Cline, Drew Challender, Justin Rodriguez, and Raman Frye. This loss is sure to add motivation for the upcoming week of training before they fight for their right to be called state champions.
