The Slippery Rock High School wrestling team currently has a total of seven wins and eight losses. The team is coached by Bob Becker. The wrestling team consists of senior Mikey Doerflinger , juniors Micheal Antal, Brenden Good, Kaleb Kamerer and Elijah Hillard,  sophomores Mason Borland, Vito Pilosi, and Ian Heitzenrater, and freshmen Nick Ayers, Destan Hoover, and Kid Scarborough.

The wrestling team has had many losses in the past few seasons, but this year, the team has had many more wins. This is because the wrestling team almost had an entirely full team across the 14 weight classes. At the beginning of the season, there were 13 wrestlers filling 13 of the 14 spots on the team. As the season progressed, the team dropped down to 11 members, which has resulted in a few losses.

In wrestling, competitors can win a match in three ways: by a pin, by points, or a by tech fall. A pin is where a wrestler puts any part of the opponent’s shoulder or shoulder blade on the mat for two seconds. To win by points, a wrestler must have more points than his opponent after wrestling to the end of a match, which includes three six-minute-long periods. A technical fall is if the wrestler can score 15 points over his opponent.

Senior Mikey Doerflinger stated, “The season started off a little slow but through the season we’ve been increasing our abilities.”

Even though the wrestling team may have lost some matches overall, some of the wrestlers have had successful seasons, including Doerflinger, with 25 wins and 4 losses. According to Doerflinger, his toughest match of the season was against a 145-pound wrestler from Reynolds. Doerflinger said that this season, he wants to win the state championship. He also wants everyone on the team to do the best they can.

Another wrestler that had a good season was sophomore Vito Pilosi with 24 wins and only 2 losses. He says that his favorite thing about wrestling is that it challenges himself. Pilosi’s favorite match this year was when he pinned Grove City’s number one wrestler.

The wrestling team has been increasing their strength by practicing every day after school on offensive and defensive positions, and working on their hand fighting. The wrestling team puts a lot of time and effort in while they are in practices and at the meets.