Last season there were 35 kids that tried out for wrestling and we ended the season with 17. It is typical to lose about half of the kids that try wrestling for the first time and the numbers will build as the feeders are established. With that said, Cov Cath Middle School wrestling will begin this year and share facilities with the High School team at the Griffin Center. The capital campaign is still ongoing and hopefully a new gym will be part of it. For now the wrestling room is a good place for this program and certainly fills our needs.
Last season we began the season with a team filled with all first year wrestlers, with the exception of 1 kid that wrestled for a year in the youth program at Ryle. The team finished with no Seniors and Joe Marino at heavyweight became the first state qualifier for Cov Cath and he was a first year wrestler. Like anything that will be successful long term it takes some time to establish the correct culture for a new sport at a school with a strong athletic program. The tremendous support of the admin and boosters combined with a great staff will allow this program to grow and build into a successful team in the coming years.