With wrestling being more of an individual sport, the goals can vary a lot from person to person. Ranging from seniors to freshmen and wrestlers to coaches, everyone on the Yutan boys wrestling team wants to see their goals achieved this season.
Although everyone has their own goals, a common one among the wrestlers is having a successful season in multiple different ways.
“I want to have a majority of a winning record and then make it to state,” junior Max Egr said.
Senior and returning state qualifier Jesse Kult has a similar goal, although his has been set in stone ever since his previous seasons.
“My goal has always been the same. I want to place at state and get 150 wins,” Kult said.
Not only have the upperclassmen set goals for themselves, the incoming freshmen also have goals for their first ever high school season, although these achievements may come harder for them.
“I want to win as many matches as I can by district time and qualify for state, then hopefully win some matches at state,” freshman Otto Henkel said. “It’s definitely going to be really tough, though, since I’m a freshman.”
Since achieving these goals will take effort, the wrestlers are already hard at work during and outside of practices.
“I’m at practice and out lifting weights. I also watch what I eat because I need to get down to a certain weight,” Kult said.
To help achieve their goals, new head coach Dan Krajicek has worked to put in some new techniques while keeping practice schedules the same as previous years.
“Basically, I’ve gone back and looked through all the practice schedules that Coach Arlt had, trying to use a lot of those,” Krajicek said. “We’re trying to get a system of when we’re going to install stuff and what we’re going to do differently with drills and techniques.”
Krajicek plans to maintain what made the team successful in the past while also adding some of his own ideas.
“Coach Arlt had it figured out pretty good from all his experience, so I’ve been just trying to continue it on but put my own spin on what we do,” Krajicek said.
With practices being taken over by Krajicek, the wrestlers have noticed some small changes, though overall it’s been a smooth transition into having a new head coach.
“It’ll be different not having Coach Arlt there because I’ve had him as a coach for a long time. Krajicek knows what he’s doing, though. He’s got us on the right things,” Kult said.
Although the season has just started, many of the wrestlers have faith that it will be another great season the whole team can look forward to.
“[The season’s] looking really good. Krajicek’s doing a good job, and it’s really nice having all the assistant coaches there too. So it’s going good,” Henkel said.
The coaching staff is also looking forward to the success that is to come in this new season.
“I love watching the kids have success. I love watching them achieve their goals and win big matches,” Krajicek said. “That’s really why I do it. It’s just getting to watch them, and that’s always what I look forward to the most.”
