On Friday, December 4, Fremont hosted the “52nd Annual John McMullen Wrestling Invite.”The Millard West varsity wrestling team traveled together to Fremont to take part in the Invitational held there, the teams there included Millard West, Fremont, Elkhorn High, Bellevue West, and Norfolk.

This year the team has worked all off season on figuring out their best moves and best ways to finish matches with more points. These techniques were mastered weeks before and brought straight to the mat to benefit the Wildcats.

“It was a really good way to start the season off because it was a good time to get back into the season smoothly,” senior Kaden Williams said. “All schools there have good programs and our team still managed to do quite well against the other very experienced kids on other teams.”

Williams won two matches in a row and finished in second place for his weight class. He went up against senior Zach Osena from Fremont. Other seniors like James Vawter, Brecken Wallace and Ryan Kocovsky all returned for their last season with confidence and much experience. These seniors have all been through the wrestling program for over three years and you can really tell the improvement they had over the years. From growing mentally and physically these boys have a something to prove

“Going up against all these other schools and meeting a bunch of new wrestlers is always a good time for our team,” Kocovsky said. “This year our team has a lot more talent than the past, our younger guys will definitely need to carry some weight for us and be able to win matches effectively.”

Kocovsky finished third in his weight class after a tough loss in his third match against Bellevue West senior Kaiyan Jones. Kocovsky lost from points and went the whole match fighting. For the rest of Millard West, Vawter, sophomore Jackson Jeanette, and freshman Noah Blair all placed second after three matches. Wallace placed fourth and senior CJ Ziemba finished third, the team had plenty of good wins and got the job done.

“We definitely have some things to work on as a team but we did really good for our first tournament,” Vawter said. “I think that we were one of the better teams there, making changes and new moves will help us grow our team.”

As the season moves on Millard West will be able to improve as a team and learn how to win more just through time and practice. The team was satisfied with the outcome but they definitely want more. The four teams there are some really good wrestling programs and have very experienced wrestlers, but the Wildcats were able to hang in there and do some damage on the mat.