Waukon wrestling team returns seven letterwinners for 2015-2016 season

The Waukon wrestling team will return seven varsity letterwinners for third-year head coach Matt Pladsen and the 2015-2016 Indian mat campaign. Those veteran returnees come back from a squad that compiled a 7-17 dual meet record last season but remained in search of a Northeast Iowa Conference dual meet victory for the fourth consecutive season.
Five seniors dominate that list of seven returnees, including Collin Cota, Joe Frieden, Carter Fuhrman, Miles Ramsey and Dawston Regan. Junior Blain Swenson and sophomore Tristan Hansmeier round out that list of experienced veterans.
“We have seven returning letterwinners who will provide experience and leadership not only at meets, but also in the practice room,” Coach Pladsen said. “We also have some new faces in the room that will help make us  better from top to bottom. We have a great group of kids out. They come to the wrestling room every day ready to work hard, they continue to improve with each practice, and they continue to push each other every day. I tell these guys, ‘You have to lead from the front, not the back!’”
Frieden ranked second on last season’s team with 32 match wins and 17 of those coming by fall, with Ramsey, Regan and Hansmeier each also eclipsing the 20-win mark last winter. The remaining veteran trio were well within striking distance of that 20-win standard, with Fuhrman and Swenson both having their seasons cut short by injury.
With those returning veterans making up half of the 14-weight varsity line-up, there’s plenty of room for some new blood to gain its own varsity experience this season. Some of Coach Pladsen’s excitement heading into the season is that the combination of veteran experience and new faces this winter should allow the Tribe to fill out all 14 of those weights this season, for a change.
“I feel this year we have a lot of strengths, one being we are hoping to have a full varsity line-up,” Coach Pladsen explained. “In the past, we have had to forfeit four to five weights, which makes it very hard to compete in a dual meet or tournament when you are giving up six points for every weight you forfeit. This is especially true in our conference, which I believe is the toughest conference in the state of Iowa.”
As far as that Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) goes, Coach Pladsen sees some of the traditional front-runners in the league remaining there again this season. “As far as the conference, once again it’s as solid as any other year,” he shared. “Waverly always seems to reload, and Cresco and New Hampton have a lot of returning letterwinners. Once again, the toughest conference in the state. If you follow wrestling and the State Tournament, you will see a lot of NEIC wrestlers standing on the podium in Des Moines.”
Coach Pladsen sees some key components within his mat charges that should help them be more competitive within that strong NEIC network as the Tribe looks to snap a four-year winless streak against its conference colleagues. “Another strength I feel we have is that we have a great group of kids out and they push each other every day to make each other better in practice, which will  reflect on the mat during our meets,” he speculated. “I believe the key to this season is to continue to wrestle the full six minutes. It’s not over until the whistle blows!”
Despite the positives that fuel Coach Pladsen’s optimism this season, he also knows there are certain aspects his mat crew needs to work on in order to make this season as successful as possible. “We have to continue to improve on getting out of difficult situations and wrestle through them,” he acknowledged. “Of course, the biggest hurdle we need to overcome, especially in the sport of wrestling, is the mental side of it. Just because you lose to an individual once, doesn’t mean the next time you meet you will have the same outcome. That is where I feel we have to be ready and keep taking the battle to them. Wrestle six minutes and learn from our mistakes. I tell my wrestlers, ‘you have to be ready, you can’t get ready!’”
Graduation took away half a dozen seniors from last year’s squad, including two of the most successful wrestlers in recent program history in Adam Benzing and Gunnar Grangaard. Both were consistent 20-plus match winners in making varsity contributions in all four of their high school seasons, with Benzing being a two-time State Tournament qualifier and ultimately wrestling to a sixth-place finish among the Class 2A elite at 145 pounds in that season grand finale last winter.
Although State Tournament qualification is the ultimate goal being pursued on the mat, Coach Pladsen says the sport of wrestling can have much more impact than just wins, medals and trophies. “Assistant coach Mason Berns and I are excited about the upcoming season and working with each wrestler, not only to make them better in order to achieve their personal goals in wrestling but also to help them continue to be a great student and individual,” he reasoned. “I believe that is what wrestling as a sport brings to the table, it  is not just a team sport but also you compete as an individual. It  is only you and your opponent out on that mat, there is no one to pass the ball off to. If you get in a very difficult situation, you learn how to deal with the situation, not only physically but mentally.  Hopefully this will help them deal with other life situations, whether it be at school, work or at home.”
The Indians will get their 2015-2016 underway with a busy opening week that begins Tuesday, December 1 with a quadrangular meet at Nashua-Plainfield with Oelwein and Postville as well, followed by a December 3 double dual at home against Clayton Ridge and Riceville. The mat Tribe will then compete in the Wapsie Valley Tournament Saturday, December 5.