Although the high school boys wrestling team is small in numbers, they had a big performance at the Capitol Conference tournament, with five of seven wrestlers medaling.

One of these wrestlers was freshman Otto Henkel, who achieved first place in his 138 weight class.

“I got first place, so I got to put my name on the champions’ wall in the wrestling room as a freshman, which not a lot of people do that,” said Henkel.

Joining Henkel atop the podium was senior Jesse Kult in the 150 weight class.

“Winning conference was another cool experience for me,” said Kult, who has won multiple tournaments before but never conference.

The achievements meant more considering the circumstances leading up to the competition since the wrestlers didn’t have much time to practice.

“I think there was a span in there where we only had 3 practices in 11 days and coming right off of Christmas break too. It’s just hard to get into the routine of things and what they’re used to,” said head coach Dan Krajicek.

Because of the break in practice, the wrestlers used the conference competition to figure out what they need to do to improve their skills moving forward into the season.

“I knew that I needed to attack more and not stall as much,” said Kult. “It shows me how much work I still need to do and maybe get a lot better.” 

Another wrestler who plans to use his performance to improve is freshman Eli Kult, who placed third in the 106 weight class but was hoping for better.

“I expected a higher placing, because I lost the match. I shouldn’t have, I’m gonna get it next time,” said Eli Kult.

While the performances gave the wrestlers something to work on, the success also provides motivation.

“It showed me that I could actually succeed since I’ve been having a rough time, I haven’t been getting first place and I didn’t have a lot of confidence in that game,” said Henkel.

While they still have the last part of the season to finish out, at least they can be proud of this performance.

“Being a conference champ is a big deal because we have a pretty tough wrestling conference, so I try to tell the kids that you remember the conference championships, you remember district championships, you remember state, so it’s a good one to make sure that you’re prepared for it,” said Krajicek.