The red stripes in candy canes represent this

green & gold

SPORTS Winter sports start with a dive,

Charlie Rickell

With winter sports picking up, athletes and coaches have been working hard preparing for their seasons.We sat down with the coaches of each team to gain some insight about the approaching winter seasons.

BASKETBALL CHEER

WRESTLING

The varsity wrestling season is also ramping up. Head Varsity Coach Josh Tolman is excited for his team to compete this season with the goal of multiple wrestlers competing and placing in state. He is also excited for his

group of young athletes to step up and surprise people this year. Tolman also mentioned that some athletes are wrestling for the first time this year, so the team is looking to help them build a strong foundation. They start their practices in Tolman’s office where they talk about the emphasis for the day. They then jump right into a high tempo warmup including around 250 jump ropes each. They then do drills to work to perfect their technique. From there they go live and wrestle head-to-head. At the beginning of the season, the wrestling team had a week of morning practices. When asked about why he scheduled them, Tolman said, “I think it was an opportunity for us to help another team with space issues to provide them with our space. I also believe it was a great opportunity to start our season facing a small adversity.” He emphasized the team’s commitment and effort by saying, “I think for our guys it’s really important to

(l to r) top row: junior Reagan Maxewell, sophmore Lauren Hill, sophmore Muna Okeke, bottom row: senior Claire Wyatt, freshman Harper Tillman, freshman Holland Williams, and freshman Avery Pennington get ready to cheer at a basetball game. Croley

The varsity basketball cheerleaders have been pract icing from 3:15 to 4:30 Monday through Thursday to get ready for the upcoming season. Head Varsity Coach Dr. Pinkett-Smith said, “The goal is for the girls to really feel comfortable knowing the material and that they will have confidence with performing and cheering at every game.” Their typical practice routine starts with a prayer and seeing how everyone is doing. Once they’re done with their warmup, they jump right into reviewing and learning new material. Pinkett-Smith said she is looking for junior Reagan Maxwell and sophomore Lauren Hill to take leadership roles on the team. Despite the long road trips in our new region, the team plans on being at all away Friday games for boys and girls. To ensure those long trips are a good time, the team will stop at the mall or another outlet to hangout, eat, and bond with each other. The varsity cheer season is an exciting time to look forward to for cheerleaders, coaches, and fans. make the decision that when other people might not be working, we will be.” Tolman is also excited about the switch to classification 3A. “We enjoyed being in 1A; it was good competition there for sure. We also think the same thing about 3A. It’s always nice to get a new scenery, meet different teams, and get a fresh start.”

DIVE

The varsity dive team has been working hard as well. Head Varsity Coach Jonathan Nye said their goal was to perform well during each meet. The team has hopes of qualifying for state at Westminster on January 31. They have been practicing for an hour 2 to 3 days a week but that will turn into everyday once the middle school season is over on December 9. Nye typically has the divers start off with front and back jumps to get warmed up. They then practice the dives that they will be performing that week in their dual meet. When asked who he’s looking for to make a jump this year, Nye said, “This is my 19 year as the Wesleyan middle school and high school community dive coach, and it seems that each year I have some very talented divers that I’ve been blessed with to coach. We have a freshman female diver by the name of Abby Suits, who has been diving now for less than 3 years, who I feel could be in the top 10 in the 3A state meet in January. I’m looking forward to seeing her and her teammate Reagan Beaty do well and qualify for the finals in the state meet this year.” Nye isn’t worried about the switch to 3A. He said, “It doesn’t affect us that much. We compete against various teams in other divisions during our regular season and we are ranked with the A-AAA teams during the state meet.” On a normal meet day, divers will arrive around 4 pm and practice until a little before 5pm. The diving meet typically begins around 5. Each diver will then perform their 6 dives and the table workers will tally up the results. The dive team will compete in 9 meets before state in January. It’s looking to be a great season.

LET’S GO WOLVES!