The Ellsworth Panthers wrestling season is well underway, and they’ve been making steady progress, even if the wins haven’t been there just yet.

The season kicked off earlier this month with the 59^th Annual Ellsworth Invitational on Dec. 2. Since then, the Panthers have competed in two duals and two tournaments.

Head Coach Mark Matzek says that although they weren’t at their best right out of the gate, it’s a long season and they plan on peaking when it counts the most.

“Our intensity wasn’t where it needed to be on our first couple of duals. The loss to St. Thomas Academy wasn’t one that should have happened, we let that dual slip away,” Matzek said. “Our younger guys are cutting their teeth with varsity experience. This isn’t easy but they are keeping their composure while taking some lumps on the competition mat. The older guys are training hard, and this will pay dividends in February.”

Even though the Panthers as a team haven’t gotten the victories, several key competitors have had some impressive individual success, according to Matzek.

William Penn continued his hot streak with a couple more tournament wins in dominating fashion, winning the Outstanding Wrestler award at the FCLMC Holiday tournament, which is voted on by the coaches. Jeremiah Johnson, Ethan Veenendall and Carson Wright all notched second place finishes at the Holiday tournament as well. For Wright, this was a follow-up to another second place finish the week prior.

Austin Peterson continues to wrestle tough, and Matzek says he is on the verge of winning some close matches. Blake Nelson is also continuing to improve, placing fifth the past two weekends.

With so many athletes earning top three finishes, it’s not a surprise that Matzek says practices have been going well and that they’ve made strides in some key areas.

“We are making improvements on the feet and in the top position,” Matzek said. “We have won some close matches by being tough in the top position. On the flip side, we need to have more urgency in the bottom position to escape and especially not to go to our backs. It is hard to win matches when you give up back points,” Matzek said. “Longer term goals for this team are to improve practice intensity and technique and have that translate to the competition mat, but you have to understand that the season is a marathon and not a sprint.”

Looking ahead, the Panthers have a pair of dual meets this week, and Matzek says they’d like to get a couple W’s.

“It would be nice get a win this Thursday at Amery and then follow that up with a strong performance at Stanley-Boyd in their tournament on Friday,” Matzek said. “Then we hit our big Christmas break tournament in the Northern Badger at River Falls Dec. 28 and 29. This tournament has 40 teams, mostly from western and northern Wisconsin, and it will be nice to compete against them instead of the teams from the Twin Cities for a weekend.”

Prescott

The Prescott Cardinals wrestling season is progressing as well, and there is a lot to like about this year’s team.

Head Coach Ian Ruble says their performance in the early goings has been good.

“We’ve definitely taken our lumps here or there, but the wrestlers are performing well,” Ruble said. “Some of the wrestlers are struggling a little simply because they are new to wrestling and don’t quite see their improvement. As a staff we are reminding the kids that success at this point isn’t always wins and losses but how many things you improved from the last match.”

The Cardinals’ frontrunner, both in points and experience, is Nolan Thomley, but Ruble says there are several wrestlers experiencing success already.

“Thomley has been leading the charge for us so far this year. He’s been doing exactly what he needs to be to have a successful postseason,” Ruble said. “Other wrestlers like Lewis Kinneman and Carter Larsen have been competing well, especially considering they are newer to the wrestling scene. Quinn Glasby at 190 pounds hasn’t wrestled much the past few weeks, but he has shown good strides since last season and is someone we’re expecting to hone their skills for a good late season push.”

Cardinals fans will know by now that it isn’t only the boys competing on the mat this year as this is the inaugural season for the girls’ team.

“Our girls have been acclimating well. It’s a process with all new wrestlers, so staying optimistic is key. You have to start by winning the little battles,” Ruble said. “Charlette and Brooklyn have wrestled tough and have placed at both the Eau Claire North Husky Invite and Somerset Invite.”

This is a year of building blocks with the wrestling program. This is Ruble’s first year as head coach, and with him comes new faces for the boys and a new team with the girls, so it’s an exciting time for Prescott wrestling fans.

“We are still learning what it means to be wrestlers, so short term goal-wise, I’m looking for our wrestlers to compete,” Ruble said. “The long-term goal is to move up the pack come time for regionals. Last year we were along the bottom of teams wrestling, the goal is to improve upon that.” 

Big Rivers: River Falls

The River Falls Wildcats wrestling season is in full swing, and they are already seeing the fruits of their labors.

Head Coach Cameron Loomis says he’s happy with the progression over the first three weeks of competition.

“There is still a long way to go, but we are going in the right direction. As coaches we are starting to see things that we have been focusing on in practice come to life on the mat and resulting in wins,” Loomis said. “As the athletes start to see the things we work on in practice pay off in competition, the confidence increases each day. They are starting to ask the right questions in practice and are starting to see the things we as coaches see from an evaluation side. The ‘why’ part of us doing certain things is starting to make sense to them.”

The Wildcats are ahead of the curve in hitting some of their yearly team goals as well.

“Each year we try to get everyone to win a match throughout the season. This year we were able to check that off the list pretty early in the year as we accomplished that Saturday,” Loomis said. “One thing I am proud of this year is that we are adding new athletes each week it seems like. We have added a number of new wrestlers since the official start to the season due to them hearing good things about the program. This was one of the goals going into the year as well, make the wrestling team a place where people want to be and are proud to promote to the rest of the school.”

Coach Loomis says their team leaders are also starting to take ownership in the team and holding people accountable in the room. The fact that they are a younger team means that they are building continuity for the future with a squad that is already competitive. Loomis says that the team is starting to realize they are not only working for this season but upcoming seasons as well.

This ownership and continuity have translated into success both on the mat and in the weight room as well.

“I don't think we have run into another program that has been in better shape than us on the mat. We knew this was an area we had to make a strength of before the season,” Loomis said. “We are still working on having the confidence to work hard enough in matches to benefit from how good of shape we are in, but I know for a fact that if our wrestlers work hard enough to get to exhaustion in a match, their opponent will be way more tired than they are. We will be able run opponents down late in a match if that is necessary.” 

Even though they’ve been winning matches, the Wildcats are still working on being able to put complete matches together and focusing on some match strategy improvement also. 

“We have some athletes that do many good things on the mat but will have 10-15 seconds in a match where they lose focus and it costs them the match. This will improve with more in-match experience, but it is also an area that we need to address more in the practice room as well,” Loomis said.

The girls’ portion of the program is something River Falls has been endeavoring to expand and improve on for several years now, and their efforts are paying dividends. This year they even brought in a new coach, Josie Bartishofski, to specifically address that goal.

Loomis says Bartishofski has been a fantastic addition to the program, and that she has been able to connect with the female athletes and provide great insight throughout the season while also still competing in her own right. With her unique perspective, she is able to provide valuable input on how she and the athletes may be feeling in practices.

“Jenna and Olivia have been doing awesome. Jenna is off to a great start to the season and is growing in some key areas. Olivia has been a pleasure to work with this year, and she has been working hard in the weight room and always has a smile on her face,” Loomis said. “We have also added another female wrestler to the team in the last week in Izzy Davenport; hopefully there will be more in the future.”

For the River Falls wrestling program to continue to build the girls’ numbers, they know they will need to do it in the youth and middle school levels. Right now, the belief is that they are accomplishing that goal, and the female Wildcats wrestlers should see numbers grow in the years to come.

As a program, Coach Loomis says that most of their goals right now are grounded in the immediate future.

“I would say that most of our goals are short term goals at this time. As a program, we just want to keep getting better each opportunity we have to compete.  We’ve competed against some good competition so far this season, and we will be getting a couple athletes back from injury soon,” Loomis said. “Right now, we are looking at the Northern Badger as the next event to take another step forward as a program. The cliche ‘be where your feet are’ fits this season and team well.”