NL Belron
It's time to get ready for the wrestling powerhouse Northern Lebanon Vikings, as they go for an 8th straight season holding the Section 3 title. The team is filled with ¨excitement¨ as they look forward to the start of the season.
Despite the loss of a few great wrestlers over the years, the Vikes are refueled with youth, and are looking forward to watching the growth of their future workhorses. Head Coach Wallace stated, ¨What I'm excited for, is probably what a lot of coaches would not be excited for, is that we have a pretty young team...that's exciting as a coach because you get to mold them, coach them, and watch them grow and be successful.¨ He also went along to mention how hungry they are for success.
Some of these underclassmen who will get their chance with the varsity team are freshman Kayden Clark, Own Bridegan, and Cooper Gill. Along with them, are the long list of solid juniors Chase Bressler, Nick WInters, Brandon Breidegan, Ethan Walmer, Kai Whitman, and Seth Fischer. The team will be led by the experienced seniors Colin Leonard, Seth Ebersole, Ethan Herb, Larson Stichler, Dustin Varvel, and Nick Goodyear.
The group has big goals set for this season including winning a section, district, and state title. But on top of that if they do fall short, NL wants to be known as ¨one of the top teams in the state.¨
When I asked Wallace about who the team's toughest competitors in the section would be, he responded with ¨hopefully no one.¨ He continued on saying that Annville, Elco, and Pequea Valley are teams that will give the Vikings their toughest matches within the section.
Coach Wallace has got his squad working since the start of November, as they began the preseason with Berserker Week. This is one week filled with running, tire flips, lifting, and other physical activities that challenge the wrestlers to their highest point of mental and physical fatigue.
Once matches and tournaments begin, the Vikings will start their daily practicing routine. Red Line practices are on Mondays, which are the toughest practices of the week that are supposed to ¨mentally and physically exhaust the wrestlers.¨ Tuesdays and Wednesdays revolve around technique and error correction from the week before. And lastly, NL goes through a pre match routine before a dual match or weekend tournament.
The ¨long and grueling season¨ begins the weekend of December 8 with a Solanco tournament and will end in the beginning of March, finishing the year with the state individuals tournament. The most fun part about wrestling is the traveling and team bonding the team experiences. They will travel to Virginia, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and the Disney Duels in Florida. Coach Wallace stated, ¨the comradery on the road trips the guys have is the most fun.¨
I wanted to get Wallace´s take on what the best part of wrestling is. He responded with, ¨Just the physicality of it, not only do you have to be physically strong, but you have to be mentally tough. It's the oldest sport in the world, it was in the first olympics, and it's the closest thing to a fight that you can get to and still be able to legally do it.¨ ¨The family aspect of it all¨, is what senior Ethan Herb had to say of what his favorite part about wrestling is.
Northern Lebanon´s first match within the section is December 12 at Elco High School.
The Vikings expect another great winning season from the brotherhood of wrestlers here at Northern Lebanon. Wallace´s expectations for his team this year was a simple two words, ¨Never lose.¨
With those expectations and the mindset the team has for this season, along with the work the wrestlers have put it in so far this year, watch out for the defending Section 3 champs to be back at it for a huge season!
Come out and support your Vikings!
ROSTER
12
*Ethan Herb
*Dustin Varvel
*Nick Goodyear
*Colin Leonard
*Larson Stichler
*Seth Ebersole
11
*Chase Bressler
*Brandon Breidegan
*Seth Fischer
*Kai Whitman
*Devan Carroll
*Levi Arms
*Nick Winters
*Josh Werni
*Michael Spitler
*Ethan Walmer
10
*Levi Ditzler
*Ben Bomberger
*Luke Umbrell
*Dominic Varvel
*Matt Tinto
*Arthur Shirk
Tyler Boltz
9
*Kayden Clark
*Owen Breidegan
*Cooper Gill