(Avoca) AHSTW wrestlers have a 5-1 mark in duals at the holiday break. The team’s only loss was to Logan-Magnolia.
The Vikings will get a week off for Christmas before hitting it hard in the practice room to prepare for 2022. “We won’t practice again until the 27th of December, so hopefully they can re-charge their batteries and get ready for the 2nd half of the season. Once we get back on the mat we are going to have to concentrate on making sure that our conditioning didn’t fall off too far with this 7-8 day break they are going to have. Then we will focus on fine tuning some technique. We’ve got guys that are trying to do a lot of different things on the mat. We need to hone in on maybe 2-3 things we really like.”
AHSTW wrestling coach Evan McCarthy says his young wrestlers are responding well to adversity. Guys like Kayden Baxter and Henry Lund have learned from experienced veterans Hayden Fischer, Garrison Gettler, and Denver Pauley.
Pauley has won individual titles at two big tournaments–Riverside and the Western Iowa Conference tourney. “Just a handful of nagging injuries last year never let him get into a groove during practice or competition. He’s also been a lot more aggressive this season and done a nice job on his feet of varying some attacks and getting after guys a little more. Last year he was a little timid out there on his feet. It’s been nice to see him wrestling like we think he’s capable of. Hopefully he’s building on that and we can find him some tough competition in the month of January so he’s ready to score points for us at the end of the year.”
Garrison Gettler was a runner-up at the conference tournament while Hayden Fischer, Kayden Baxter, and Henry Lund all placed 3rd. Denver Pauley is 16-1 on the season, Garrison Gettler 13-5, Hayden Fischer 15-3, Kayden Baxter 10-5, and Henry Lund 14-5. AHSTW hosts Tri-Center, Abraham Lincoln, and Southwest Iowa in a quad on January 4th.
AHSTW coach Evan McCarthy:
