Frankfort Pre-Season Wrap-up

Austin Shaffer

      Six high school wrestlers and several mat club kids traveled to the big town of Short Gap, WV to compete in a pre-season tournamnet at Frankfort High School on Sunday.  It was a very successful day and the future looks very promising for the Rams.

Devan Hamrick

      Returning state champion, Austin Shaffer dominated on his way to the championship.  He won each of his 4 matches convincingly and looks to have a great shot at defending his title this year.

      Freshman Devan Hamrick also went undefeated on the day, winning all 3 of his matches to claim the title.  This was Devan's 2nd tournament this fall and he has yet to lose a match.

Tanner Massey

      Junior Tanner Massey went 4-1 on the day to place 2nd at the tournament.  His only loss was a close 2-0 decision to a returning WV state qualifier.  Tanner looked very strong and should have a great season this year.

      Sophomore Austin Sines looked very good in his matches as well.  Austin won his first two bouts before losing his final two to end up in 3rd place.  Conditioning was an issue for Sines as he didn't have much left in the tank by the time he got to his last matches.



Jimmy Schwab



      Cooper McCauley and Zach Tichnell each competed as well.  Each of these seniors were in tough classes and each will play a big part for our team this season.

      Several mat club wrestlers also competed at Frankfort.  Eighth graders Jimmy Schwab and George Zimmerman both were very impressive.  Schwab won all his matches to place 1st and Zimmerman won 3 of 4 to take 2nd.  Each of these boys will be very successful in their final mat club season and will be great additions to our high school team next year.

     

Pre-Season Action

Austin Shaffer & Brad Clary

      Most people will agree, pre-season work, regarless of which sport, is key to in-season success.  There have even been catchy phrases created like "summer wrestling make winter champions" and "championships require payment in advance" to drive home this point.  These is little doubt that these quips are dead on.

If a wrestler waits until November 15th to start training for the season, he is well behind.  We have been offering open gym where wrestlers can come in and lift weights, run the track or get on the mats and work on technique.  We have had excellent turnout and the boys have been doing all of the above activities twice a week since school started.

      In addition to these open gym workouts, there are numerous pre-season tournaments where wrestlers can get a little live wrestling competition under their belts prior to November 15th.  Our boys have also been hitting these up as well.  The next event is this Sunday in Short Gap, WV at Frankfort High School and we will have at least a half dozens kids competing.  The boys are "making payment in advance".  It's going to be a great season.