by Ella Curtis
The Aurora boys' wrestling team had a successful day at the Central City Wrestling Invite on Jan. 11. Even though the team finished the day in sixth place, the team’s 146.5 points showed the team’s effort. Over two-thirds of the team won 50 percent or more of their matches, with the final number of wins overall totaling 26 matches.
“In regards to the team aspect I feel like we all mostly did what was expected from us,” senior Karsten Hohm said, “It was definitely one of the harder tournaments that we have been to this year, but it helped us see the things that we need to work on.”
One team member hit a big milestone in their career as well. Karsten Hohm won three out of his four matches at the tournament, earning him second place in his weight class and also granting him his 100th high school career win. When asked how he felt, he said he was confident that he would get it and kept a strategic thought process throughout the entire thing.
“At the beginning of my match I went into it already thinking about how I should celebrate or which camera to look at,” Karsten stated, “I was coming off of a pin and a tech-fall in my first two matches. Throughout the match, I started to build a lead against my opponent and my mindset went from trying to score a lot to being more cautious and giving him minimal points when I was in a losing position.”
There were also multiple team members with notable moments throughout the day, with eight members placing in the top six for their respective divisions. Placers (and their weight classes) include junior Ethan Beed (106), sophomore Carson Krejci (113), freshman Colton Sigler (120), sophomore Logan Svoboda (126), senior Karsten Hohm (132), junior Jacobi Thomas (138), senior Evan Hermanson (144), and sophomore Owen Jacobson (190).
Strategy before and during matches isn’t the only thing the wrestlers think about while at the meets. Team members can be seen cheering on their teammates and creating bonding moments from the sidelines. When asked about what his favorite part of the meets is, Karsten had this to say.
“My favorite part of meets has to be having fun with my teammates. It always feels like a family where we all support each other and we hold each other accountable which helps both individuals and our team as a whole,” he said.
The team continued their season at St. Paul on Thursday, Jan. 16, coming away with two team wins against St. Paul and Ord. They will wrestle again at Schuyler on Saturday, Jan. 18.