Girls and boys basketball, boys swimming, bowling and wrestling are all stepping into the spotlight the next few months as winter sports season debuts.
The South Kitsap wrestling team is preparing for its first meet in which they host Bellarmine at 7 p.m. Dec. 10.
With several returning wrestlers who placed in state last season, the Wolves look to bring more wrestlers back to the Mat Classic in February.
“We’ve got a real good core group of guys coming back,” head coach Chad Nass said.
Brandon Forster finished eighth in the 132-pound class. Deion Anderson finished fifth in 113 pounds and Makayla Ramirez finished fourth in the girl’s tournament at the state tournament held in the Tacoma Dome.
“We also have a group of kids who were close to making it to state last year, as well — a couple of regional placers,” Nass said.
South’s record last year was 5-1, with the only loss during the regular season coming at the hands of Yelm, which has held a long rivalry with the Wolves.
“In league, Yelm is definitely our biggest rival,” Nass said. “We had won 192 straight matches, and then they beat us three years ago.”
Since that break to the Wolves undefeated record, the two teams have gone back and forth with wins the next two meetings. This year, Nass said he is preparing his team, one move at a time.
“It’s early in the season and our focus is the finish,” he said. “We may not be at our best early on, but with the positions we’ve been working on, hopefully we’ll wrestle well.”
Nass said he promotes working hard in practice, and he expects that will transfer to meets.
“Really what I try to coach is work hard in practice, go out and wrestle hard in matches, do your best and wins and losses take care of themselves,” he said.
With this mindset, the Wolves expect to be in for another successful season. Along with competing for another Narrows League title, the Wolves will be participating in several large tournaments including, the Olympic Duels, Hammerhead Invite and the Pacific Coast tournament.
But, ultimately, the Wolves goal is simple : make it back to state and compete in Tacoma with all the other schools in Washington.
“I just tell them to wrestle hard, and it usually works out for us,” Nass said.
