The AP/GC boys wrestling team tested itself with a grueling dual schedule this season. The team went 15-14 while contending among some of the better teams in Class 2A.
The Falcons had a tough time finding wins in dual tournaments at Clarion-Goldfield-Dows and New Hampton, but held their own against some of the ranked teams in the NICL.
“We went to Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, and we were the only one that wasn’t ranked there,” Head Coach Joel Reints says. “Had I known that going in, I don’t know if we were quite at that level yet, but we think you’ve got to challenge yourself throughout the season and kind of see where you’re at. I thought we were a pretty good dual team. You know, we had a lot of young kids step in and fill big roles for us. And I thought the kids handled it great, finishing fourth and in conference duals, I thought was a pretty good finish for us. I don’t remember the last time we were that high in the conference duals.”
The team had four state tournament qualifiers, including Brayden Jara at 113, Carter Liston at 126, Maison Copp at 190 and Jesse Brouwer at 215. With Copp and Jara expected back next season, Reints says it could be a deep lineup of state tournament contenders.
“Parker Mulder as a sophomore, he was in the wrestle back at districts. Mason Pruisner giving himself a chance to to possibly qualify for state. He gave the number one seed a pretty big scare by putting him on his back in that semifinal match. And if he finishes that match, guess what? He’s down there too. So we’ve got a lot of guys that are real close to being state qualifiers and I think we got some good athletes and kids that really want to work hard and really fight for it. And I really like the direction of this program.”
Eight seniors have departed the program.
