By Aalia Malik — “Every year brings new challenges,” wrestling coach Marcus Lambdin said.

This could apply to many teams. Though there were challenges for winter sports teams this season, many overcame them to have a good season.

Some students on the wrestling team have seen success this season. The team had five sectional winners, three district qualifiers and two state qualifiers. The state qualifiers were sophomore Nick Steed and senior Corey Siegfried.

Corey Siegfried took second place at state. Nick Steed was one match away from placing. Overall, the team places 28th out of 100 teams.

“We will be losing five seniors but we will also be getting new kids from Oakwood. My goal for next year is to have double digit wins,” Lambdin said.

One very successful athlete this season was senior Austin Baad. He made it to state in diving and placed in seventh overall.

“I broke a couple of records and also broke my personal record, “ Baad said.

Though he was the only member of the diving team to make it to states, 14 swimmers made it to districts.
“I am going to continue diving when I go to Clarion University in Pennsylvania,” Baad said.

Another successful winter sports team was the girls’ basketball team. They ended the season with a record of 12-12 and made it to the second tournament round. The significance of this is that it is the first time the team made it that far in 10 years.

“We played very well as a team. We had a strong connection,” sophomore Maddy Repp said.

There is potential for the team to do well next year with the continued effort they had this season.

“If we keep working hard and putting in the effort, we could do really well. We work really well together,” Repp said.

Along with girls’ basketball, the boys’ basketball team is also having success. They made it to the first tournament game with a record of 10-12.

“I think we will be very competitive next year. We have a few juniors coming back with quite a bit of experience and we have a strong sophomore class as well as a few freshmen,” coach Jack Greynolds said.
The team did come back strong after a hard beginning to the season.

“I really like how we stayed together after a rough start. Everyone improved significantly throughout the season,” coach Greynolds said.

Greynolds also feels that the team will be back for a strong season next year which will hopefully carry over for all other winter sports in the upcoming seasons.

[Updated Aug. 7, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]