Moeller Wrestling Taking Down The Competition
Kurt Thompson with the pin. Photo by Mrs. Thompson
The weather is getting colder and the snow is piling up, so that means Moeller winter sports are in full gear once again. This season, things are looking promising for the 2020-2021 wrestling team.
This year’s wrestling team is being led by upperclassmen Nolan Moore, Brayden Zenni, Ian Allen, Dominic Papalardo, Jack Scally, and Frank Anastasia. This senior class is looking strong and has more potential in the younger wrestlers as well.
Moeller has started the pre-season strong, hosting two scrimmages. Some of the attending teams include Lebanon, Milford, Walnut Hills, West Clermont, Oak Hills, and others. The scrimmages held no official matches, but Moeller put up an impressive showing. One thing that stood out was, “Our conditioning and pace help us beat a lot of teams,” says junior Jonathan Sanchez. The wrestling team has put in a lot of pre-season work with open mats and runs to prepare themselves for the grueling season ahead. Hopefully, all this work leads them to a team or individual state championship.
With two returning state qualifiers, including senior Brayden Zenni and junior Kurt Thompson, the team hopes for even more this year. New potential qualifiers include Seniors Nolan Moore and Jack Scally, and juniors Jonathan Sanchez and Brad Hornback. With these men working hard they hope to end their year competing up in Columbus. When asked about this season, Brayden Zenni replied, “This year is the hardest year to stay motivated with COVID-19 going on, but we have a good team that is up to compete and win the GCL.”
Team Captain Brayden Zenni showing some impressive defense. Photo by Mr. Zenni
Obviously, as with everything COVID-19 has impacted the wrestling season. One of the biggest changes is the termination of all individual tournaments. Instead, only duals between teams will take place instead (excluding sections, districts, and state). Along with this several new rules have been implemented including required masks by those on the sidelines, sanitation between each period, and the removal of pre and post-match handshakes. These new conditions affect everyone differently, especially junior Kurt Thompson who said, “Some of my goals were to win or place high in tournaments like SWOWCA, Powerade, and Coaches Classic, but now that can’t happen.” Kurt still looks forward to making his way back to state and taking a high ranking.
Team Captain Nolan Moore with a take down. Photo by Mrs. Moore
Head coach Germane Lindsey also has his hopes set high for this season. He believes the team is full of “hard working individuals” that will lead to a great success. He hopes that the team will be able to lead the Cincinnati area and compete with tougher teams up north such as St. Edward and St. Ignatius. Coach Lindsey has his hopes up that Covid will not affect the season and has been mindful of the athlete’s conditions and surroundings.
With a long season ahead of them the team has plenty of time to grow even more and develop into a state caliber team by the time March comes around. Good luck to all the wrestlers and Go Big Moe.