Demons boast strong returners

They lose two talented athletes from a season ago, but with 10 returners who earned double-digit varsity victories last year, the Demon wrestlers are looking to hold on to their conference title for another season.

The Washington wrestling team returns three state-qualifiers from the 2014-15 season, and with a strong class returning, can claim their third straight Southeast Conference title if the cards fall right for them this season.

?Anytime you can bring back a large nucleus of your team, that?s an advantage,? Washington wrestling head coach Brent Van Weelden said. ?We have a lot of guys with a lot of experience, but some that haven?t wrestled much before. The new guys are picking things up pretty quickly. Having seven, eight, nine returners bodes well for the team, but when we lose a bunch of them in a couple of years, we?ll reap the benefits of the newer guys.?

Despite a large number of returners, the Demons will enter the season with just two seniors. However, those seniors will be integral to the team?s success this season.

?We have two seniors coming back, Michael Ellingson and Bryce Rickey, and we need those guys to lead the team,? Van Weelden said. ?They keep everybody focused.?

As for the three returning state qualifiers, juniors Andrew Waite, Kyle Anderson (seventh at state) and Trey Van Weelden, hard work in the offseason could see them reap big rewards this season, even if it does come at a different weight class.

?All those guys put in a lot of time in the summer and went to a lot of camps,? Brent Van Weelden said. ?They are all a lot stronger and bigger this year. It looks like they might be up about two weight classes right now. So far, they?ve all come in and worked hard. They lead by

example.?

Last season the Demons posted a simple goal for the season: Wrestle six minutes as hard as you can.

That theme has carried over into this season, and after the team gets into their groove, having only started practice one week ago, their head coach is confident they will make big progress this season.

?We are staying with that,? Brent Van Weelden said. ?We aren?t to that point yet, and we haven?t gone live too much, but we want to do everything in 10-minute intervals. Eventually, we?ll be able to keep that pace up for 10 minutes, and then six shouldn?t be an issue. It?s still early, but we?ll get there.?

Although the Demons have a large number of returners, they will be looking to some youth to potentially help fill a few of their smaller weight classes this season.

Washington will set their lineup over the Thanksgiving break with their own wrestle-offs, but Van Weelden said he expects the young athletes to give the veterans a good challenge.

?We are getting what we thought we would out of the upper classmen,? Van Weelden said. ?The other day we had the freshmen going live for the first time, and they were giving the upperclassmen a few good goes. We have 14 kids in our freshman class and there?s about seven or eight of them that have a lot of experience. They are trying to make a name for themselves.?

Washington will open its season next Tuesday, Dec. 1, when they travel to HLV for a meet which will also feature Benton and Iowa Valley.