The Northwestern wrestling team is approaching the start of their season very soon.
After some time in the practice room the excitement starts to fill. For the first time in a while there are no returning national qualifiers from the previous year.
Kaleb Lind is a senior this year on the team, he qualified for nationals his sophomore year and is looking to make an impact with his hard-nosed, high-point scoring offense this year.
A couple of other wrestlers looking to make an impact are Noah Parmelee and Johnny Burrnette.
Parmelee and Burrnette are both juniors this year and are looking to reach the national stage after they both fell just short in previous years.
Along with Parmelee and Burrnette the team has a couple of returning starters and upperclassmen that have worked hard this summer.
The team has a couple of newcomers this year who are both freshmen, Kaleb Grove and Taye Jordan.
Grove has a fun wrestling style that is complemented by his skills as a football player. Grove is not the flashiest, but he can run someone over like nobody’s business.
Jordan has a fun way of wrestling that is influenced by his Greco-Roman wrestling prestige. Jordan looks hungry and is in a very fun position to wrestle and compete well for the raiders.
The other freshmen of this class have also been nothing short of fun and driven. They have a fire that is unique to a freshman. They want to conquer the world and the only thing that could stop them is their own discipline.
The Raiders this year chose Hebrews 12:11 as their verse, and subsequent theme for the year. ““All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
Wrestling is a lot about discipline and that is why the wrestling team chose the theme of “Chosen Suffering.” The team goes day in and day out thinking about making it onto the podium at the national tournament in February.
On that journey though is their first stop in Wichita, Kansas and the Friends invite.
The Wrestling team will open their season in a tournament on Nov. 2 and will start their dual season at home against Minnesota West Community College on Nov. 6.
