The middle school season is already nearing its end and I was able to email coach Mike Roddick and ask him to say a few words about how the season has gone. Here is what he has to say…
We have a great group of middle school wrestlers this year. They are talented, been working hard, and we have great numbers with 33 students in wrestling this year.
Most all of our 8th graders have been with us for all 3 years in middle school, with one new comer who is naturally a strong wrestler. We have a total of 12 wrestlers in 8th grade this year who are showing great leadership and wrestling well. We have 7 wrestlers in the 7th grade, 4 are returning wrestlers and 3 are new to the program. There is a lot of talent and a lot of hard workers in this group.
As for the 6th graders, we have 14 participants. There are 8 wrestlers who wrestled a lot in the youth program and the balance are in their first or second years. There are a lot of 6th graders who are very talented. The one’s with limited experience work hard and are learning a lot.
Combined as a team, we have a lot more individual wins than losses and we are 4 and 1 in middle school dual meets. Wins and losses are only one way to measure success. Coach Zufluh, Weidl and myself prefer to focus on instilling a love of wrestling and teaching the kids how to believe in themselves and work extremely hard, while at the same time being respectful and kind when off the mat.
The thing that young wrestlers least understand is that wrestling needs to be a way of life. They need to eat, drink and breathe wrestling if they are to reach their full potential. They need to search websites such as flowrestling, subscribe to and read wrestling magazines, practice, condition and eat healthy almost daily (year around), read fiction and nonfiction stories related to wrestling, and keep out the social forces that try to tear them away from such things.
If this group of middle school wrestlers choose to make the sacrifices and commitments necessary to hone their skills, they will be a force to be reckoned with at the varsity level down the road.
- Mike Roddick
If you ask me, sounds like Sparta Wrestling will be able to continue the success of the last couple seasons. Lots have to happen for that to repeat itself, but as long as good individuals continue to lead and coach the younger kids, there is no reason not to believe this can’t continue.
That being said, let’s check out how the Spartans did before the dual at home against Holmen and then four days later in Tomah. Each wrestler’s record from each match will be listed right next to his name. For example, the following means Brock Polhamus went 0-0 at Sparta and 1-1 in Tomah: ”Brock Polhamus, 0-0, 1-1.” Easy enough right? OK, onto the records…
6th Grade
Connor Bernett, 0-0, 1-1
Matthew Fahning, 0-0, 1-0
Autumn Glover, 0-0, 0-0
Braze Jorenson, 0-0, 0-0
Christian Lamon, 1-0, 0-1
Kole Nelson, 1-0, 1-0
Austin Ragland, 0-0, 0-0
Tristin Robertson, 0-0, 1-0
Jasiah Scott, 0-0, 1-0
Nic Swiatly, 0-0, 0-2
Deion Tovar, 0-0, 0-2
Jaden Winchel, 0-1, 1-0
Russell Winchel, 0-0, 0-0
Ryan Wisniewski, 0-1, 0-3
7th Grade
Haydn Bernett, 1-0, 1-0
Nate Cox, 0-0, 0-2
Matthew Hoffman, 0-0, 2-0
Alex Meinhardt, 1-0, 0-1
Trey Rickey, 0-0, 3-0
Trygve Zurfluh, 0-0, 0-0
Derek Dahlby, 0-0, 1-0
8th Grade
Joseph Benish, 0-1, 0-0
Dillon Crocker, 1-0, 1-1
Patrick Daley, 1-0, 1-2
Randall Giraud, 0-1, 1-1
Nathan Gremminger, 0-0, 1-1
Ryan Leis, 1-0, 1-1
Justin Marx, 1-0, 1-1
Brock Polhamus, 1-0, 1-0
Walker Polhamus, 0-1, 0-1
Christian Reiter, 0-0, 0-2
John Roddick, 1-0, 1-0
Corey Zimmerman, 1-0, 0-1
