Maddy Moore

PHS wrestling groups up after warmups, preparing for the Jamboree on Nov. 30th, @4:55 pm

Would you want to watch an athlete get pinned to the floor? Prairie wrestling hosted the 2023 Jamboree starting at 5:00 pm on Thursday, November 30th, in the PHS gyms. Getting a feel for the season, the wrestling program took on nine other schools, which led them into their tournament that Saturday. 

   With only one other 3A school battling in the jamboree (Heritage), Prairie had a successful, and long, night out on the mats. This event started at 5 pm and lasted until about 10:30 pm. Watching your Falcon wrestlers made for an inspiring evening: When it was time for a Prairie individual to wrestle, they had all their teammates cheering them on, and demonstrating Prairie PRIDE. 

   The preseason matches don’t affect their season at all, and not a ton of preparation is done before this event. “This is just an opportunity for us to get used to some other wrestlers from other schools,” head coach Rob Smith stated. 

   “Pretty good” was one way to reflect on Prairie’s performance in the jamboree. Input from coach Smith and senior Mason Frei described more work needing to be done, which is the mindset that’s connected to any high school team’s opening week. 

   Following this Thursday night event, the wrestling team traveled to AC Davis on Saturday, December 2nd. Everyone was looking forward to the challenge against top teams, and Prairie found more success in Yakima. “Our team placed third overall and we had three champions, two others placing third and fourth.” mentioned varsity wrestler Mason Frei, currently in his 4th and last year playing for Prairie. 

   Reaching state is the main goal of this team, especially for individuals who are high in the 3A state rankings. Evan Sturdivant, Nicholas Crousore, Amir Lisichenko, Malik Horne, Mason Frei, Seth Blick, Aaliyah Young, and Faith Tarrant, are all ranked top ten in their weight classes early in the 2023-24 winter season. 

   So far, the Prairie wrestling team has been on a victorious streak, and the first duel is against Battleground on December 6th. Will this team keep up their success?