With spring sports starting, it’s an appropriate time to begin wrapping up winter sports for the 2018-2019 season, specifically wrestling. The boys wrestling team had a successful season and broke barriers they had never broken before, such as bringing home team trophies from tournaments and beating teams they haven’t beaten in years.

The official statistics from the season is 18-8 in duals, second place finish at the December duals, second place finish at the Raytown South Holiday Tournament, third place finish at the Valley duals, fifth place finish at the 2019 Eric Lewis Invitational MICDS, and champions of the 2019 Greater Kansas City Suburban Conference.

One significant dual was the match up versus the Rockhurst Hawklets. This was opening night and military appreciation night. The Northmen had a triumphant win with the final score being 58-15. This is the first time they have beat Rockhurst in at least four years, if not more. The Northmen won 11 of the 14 matches.

Another significant competition was their second place finish at the December Duals. This was a tournament dual versus three teams from Kansas. The Northmen were not familiar with any of these teams, so they did not know what to expect. They ended up winning four out of five duals they wrestled that night. They started out with a close one against Burlington with the final score being 46-36. They didn’t let that get them down though because they dominated everybody else after that tough loss. The second dual versus Prairie View had a final score of 42-36. Then a dominating dual versus Independence, at 66-9. Next, they ran through the dual versus Louisburg with the final score being 52-15. They finished off the night with a win over Baldwin at 49-27. Getting second place at an out-of-town tournament was a great way to keep their pace rolling through the month of December.

The whole season was very commendable. There were many injuries and many, many setbacks. But nonetheless, the team persevered and got business done, sending one person, Topher York, to the state tournament. This season has showed that the underdogs can come back and do successful things.