After a very successful fall sports season at Baldwin High School the winter sports teams are looking to carry on the winning trend. The wrestling team hit the mats and the boy and girls basketball teams have hit the courts for their first day of practices.
The wrestling team finished sixth at state last year and is hoping to have another great season. The wrestlers were 13-1 in duals and won the Frontier League championship with eight individual league champions last year, a school record.
“It will be a great season. We return a state champion in Bryce Shoemaker, and three other state qualifiers who all have been one win from a state medal in Jason Von Bargen, Tucker Clark and Jon Pratt,” fourteenth-year head coach KIt Harris said. “ But we also have a large group of hard-working underclassmen who have become pretty tough over last couple years. So I am excited to see them step in as full-time varsity wrestlers and challenge to be state qualifiers.”
The boys basketball team finished the 2011-12 season 13-8. It was a solid first for boys head coach Dustin Loechner who took over the head coaching duties coming from Free State High School.
“We have matured a lot as a team from last year,” Junior Cornell Brown said. “We’re looking to be physical and get out and win a lot of games this year.”
Top returning boys basketball players are Brown, Caleb Gaylord, Chad Berg, Luke Fursman, Michael Burton, Tim Craig and Quinn Twombly
The girls basketball team finished last season 12-10.
“We think we have a good chance of going to state this year, we returned all of our players and we have a lot of experience playing together.” Junior Katie Jones said. “We are more fluent than last year we have played together a lot and we are getting to where we can anticipate each other. ”
Top returning girls Jones, Katie Kehl, Elena Watson, Jessie Katser, Kelsey Dighans, Katelyn Jorgenson, Katie Jones, Kailyn Smith, Hailey Cope and Karina Steinke.
The first games for each team will be: wrestling at the Gardner tournament, and both of the basketball teams will open their seasons at Jefferson North at 7p.m. Friday Nov. 30.