It was a successful weekend for the Red Raider wrestlers in Park City, Kansas on Saturday, Nov. 5. Many wrestlers picked up multiple wins. Senior Luke Jenness picked up five wins out of six matches and placed fourth in his weight class.
Jenness had two major decision wins and a fall, but unfortunately, had to forfeit the third-place match because he had reached the six-match limit for the day. When asked about his performance, Jenness mentioned that God blessed him with the wins that he received, and said it is unfortunate he could not wrestle for third.
He is proud of his work and acknowledges that it is just the beginning of the season. There is much more to come from him and his teammates.
Jenness is a leader on the NW wrestling team, not just in statistics, but also in how his faith is evident in how he wrestles. Last year Jenness had the highest match wins at 29 and the highest fall victories. Jenness sees that as God’s blessing and not just because of his individual work.
Other NW wrestlers besides Jenness picked up multiple wins. Sophomore Trey Schuck at 141 pounds finished the day at a record of 4-2, also recording two falls and a major decision win.
At 197 pounds, sophomore Kaleb Lind ended the day with three falls which now puts him in the lead for six falls, which is the team’s highest number of falls for the season thus far. Three more wrestlers also had multiple wins, with junior Sean Heeney at 125 recording two wins, sophomore Brecklin Sperling at 157 with two wins, and finally freshman Johnny Burnette also with two wins.
For the team, Coach Rik Dahl is entering his fifteenth season as the head coach for the Red Raiders. A former NW Red Raider himself, Coach Dahl’s mission is to use wrestling as a way to build young men up in their faith in Christ, and this can be seen in how many of his wrestlers, such as Jenness, credit their wins to God.
The Red Raider wrestling season is just beginning and will open up GPAC competition on Nov. 16th.
