As the winter sports season comes to a start, the wrestling team prepares to hit the mats strong for what they believe will be a promising season. With a smaller yet dedicated group of returning CCS-level wrestlers, the team is expecting to be seeded high in their league. But the expectations for the team weren’t always this high.

Three years ago, coaches Kevin Klemm and Ian Bork took over the MVHS wrestling program.

“We had zero expectations the first year,” Klemm said. “But we did well. Last year, we were successful, but the individual wrestlers were too inexperienced for CCS and States. This year, our core is ready to take the next step.”

Two years ago, the wrestling team started a club that transformed the school’s wrestling season to a year-round sport. The club consists of four sessions, one for each season of the year. It focuses on an Olympic style of wrestling that gets the wrestlers on the mats in front of college coaches and national wrestlers. These are just some of the techniques the wrestling team practices to defeat an opponent.

According to senior co-captain Faris Karaborni, the year-round club has attracted more devoted wrestlers, and the extra time commitment is producing huge results.

“This year we have seven returning CCS qualifiers, the highest in a long time, and a bunch of guys who wrestled the entire offseason,” Karaborni said. “The amount of improvement we used to see over the course of a wrestler’s entire high school wrestling career, we now see in one season.”

The team won their league last year as well as a couple tournaments throughout the season. Placing tenth at CCS, the team far exceeded the expectations that were set at the start of the season.

According to Karaborni, the CCS-level wrestlers are even better this year. However, the greater time commitment has led to a decrease in the total number of wrestlers, so the team this year is smaller than before.

“The team is smaller, but it’s actually more competitive because all the members are committed,” senior co-captain Tijani Karaborni said.

With the dedication and hard work of the wrestling team’s core athletes, the upcoming wrestling season looks promising, not only for the team’s win-loss record, but also for the establishment of MVHS’ wrestling team as a force to be reckoned with for many years to come.

“This year is probably going to be our best season ever with MVHS wrestling,” F. Karaborni said.