West Wrestling: October 22, 2015

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Two West wrestlers grapple in a match.

Rhiannon Horton, Reporter

On Thursday, October 22, the Eagles wrestled against two teams, Palmer and Eagle River. The match was a great game for West, winning by 30 points against Eagle River, however they lost against Palmer, which was suspected to by the coaches.

In the beginning of the match, a minor nose injury occurred. The wrestlers seemed to struggle against Eagle River, but they managed to keep the score high. The coaches screamed pointers at the wrestlers, but they didn’t seem to crack under the pressure.

Scott Kniefel, a coach for the Eagles, has been coaching wrestling since 2006. He thinks that the wrestlers did very well, even though they lost against Palmer.  

He also talks about how he trains the team, “Wrestling is a sport that demands conditioning and a lot of what we do centers around that, so a lot of running. A lot of stretching, making sure your muscles are loose,” he says.

Kniefel also raises money for the team by selling an abundance of food items throughout the day. He has raised up to $3-4,000 so far this year. He tries to raise as much money as he can to help support his team. “I don’t want anyone to ever have to make a decision well I’d like to wrestle but I can’t afford to do it,” he says.

Kniefel also talks about diversity at West. He says that not only is there diversity with race, but there is also a lot of diversity with money. Some kids are millionaires, some kids live in their parent’s car, he says.

Daniel Rawlings, another coach, also jumped in to comment on his team. “They did really well,” he comments, as he stops by to help Kniefel with some wrestling equipment.  

He also mentions the 30 point difference with Eagle River. “With a pretty young team, that’s pretty good. Then, with Palmer who won the entire tournament, we were within a dozen points. That’s pretty good for us,” he also says that there were seven placers in the tournament. Kniefel, obviously shocked, was very proud of what he was hearing about his wrestling team.

Keegan, a ninth grade wrestler, comments on the game. “It went alright,” he says. He likes to improve himself and learn more combos, as he describes it. He also has many opinions on why the West wrestling team is different from any of the other teams.

“We’re a family and we treat others as we want to be treated,” he says, “Wrestling keeps Keegan and the other wrestlers fit for the football season.”

The West high wrestling season is far from over; please go and support our Eagles! The season will continue until December 4th, then hopefully West will go to the state championships which will occur at Chugiak High School.