Following a tournament at Dallas Hillcrest that saw the boys’ and girls’ teams pin down 8th place and 13th place finishes respectively, Redhawks wrestling hosts Northwest and Princeton at The Nest Wednesday in a tri meet.
Assistant wrestling coach Viviana Espinoza believes that the team will be able to carry over their performance and poise from the tournament in order to get positive results.
“Everyone that we took [to the tournament] made points for us,” Espinoza said. “They’ve showed us a lot in the first real setting, leaning on each other and what we’ve been working on in practice. I didn’t expect us to really place as well as we did, but I just want the kids to get their technique and skill down. The fact that they did so awesome is great. We just need to work on a couple of small details [for the meet], which is a great problem to have because it’s easy to work out those kinks at the beginning of the season.”
Despite the Northwest girls team being the defending state champions, head coach Justin Koons is similarly optimistic and predicts close outcomes for both teams.
“Wrestling is a tough and complex sport that you can find yourself in all kinds of situations,” Koons said. “Trying to cover them all is impossible, [but] constantly improving on the basics will get us exactly where we need.”
Sophomore Dani Banks will draw on her prior experience in order to help the Redhawks get a win.
“This is my second year in the program and I believe I’ve grown a lot to know what I’m doing on the mat,” Banks said. “I believe that Liberty will bring in the W because I have hope in my team and belief in our coaches.”
