As usual, the Braves wrestling team has high hopes for their season. That means winning a state championship, something the Braves are no stranger to, but this year’s quest to win will be at a whole new level, literally.

Like golf and cross country, wrestling moved up to 4A classification this year, joining all the the other SVHS sports programs except football. “I don’t really know what to expect because we have never done it before, but winning state is definitely a possibility because we have a lot of good wrestlers,” said senior Brandon Beck.

Some of these strong wrestlers include Beck—who will miss some of the season with an injury picked up during football, Peyton Andrews, Bridger Smith, Grant Weiss and many others.

The Braves see their toughest competition coming Sheridan, but the boys have high hopes of making it 8 state titles in a row. While the boys will look to add to their impressive title total, a new girls wrestling team will begin their first attempt and winning a title.

The girls team is official this year, and they are hungry for a state championship. Kylee Erickson said, “We have the second most girls in the state, and at one point in the Braves Brawl we had 6 pins in a row.” With no classifications in girls wrestling, at least for this inaugural year, every girl wrestler in the state will compete against each other. The girls also see Sheridan as their toughest competition.

Some of the strong female wrestlers out for the team include Veil Foreman, Hallie Robertson, Remi Aullman, and Keston Johnson, all of whom went undefeated at the recent Braves Brawl. The girls combined for 49 wins at the event.

With a strong tradition of winning and hopes of starting new ones, Braves wrestling has never looked better.