Wrestling Practice Begins Today

Wrestlers of yore. Photo by Jin Yup Jung '14. Copyright Red Cloud Indian School.

Wrestling Practice Begins Today

By Jin Yup Jung '14

                        

The winter sports season begins today. The Red Cloud wrestling team had a meeting in the room of head wrestling Coach Clay Leonard for the upcoming wrestling season last Monday. The Red Cloud Wrestling team achieved many triumphs last year. Also,the Crusaders wrestling team will have great accomplishments since there are great wrestlers this year, including several new wrestlers. Leonard has desired to develop a strong wrestling team since the last wrestling season was done in late February. “I want the wrestlers to improve,” Leonard said. “And I want people to qualify for state. I want the wrestlers to see the benefit that they will have in wrestling."

Also, RCHS gained some new wrestlers this year. One of them is Yoshiki Ueda, a foreign exchange student from Japan, “I really do not know about wrestling, so I think possibility is infinite,” said Yoshiki.  Also, senior Harlen Standing Bear decided to wrestle his senior year. “I feel excited, and I’m ready to win,” Harlen said. "I will obtain as many moves as I can, then I will try to qualify for State.” 

The other new wrestler is senior Santana Red Feather, who is a new student from Scottsbluff. “I just want to try something different. I like to gain new wrestling moves and skills,” Santana said. “My goal in wrestling is to give out my best performance and build up my strength although I am a little nervous because this is my first time to take it seriously.”   

This is the second wrestling year for senior Morgan Starr.  “I feel good about it. I’ve worked hard during the last summer,” said Morgan. 

While there are under 20 female wrestlers in South Dakota, there is a strong female wrestler at RCHS. Miranda O’Donnell has been working as hard as others, and she is looking for many wins this year. Also to overcome her mistakes from her wrestling matches last year, she’s been working hard to try to fix her mistakes. “My goal is to be able to make the regionals and qualify for state,” Miranda said. “I think if a girl is going to wrestle, then she should take it seriously and try to be like one of the great wrestlers.”