The men’s varsity wrestling match against Hamilton Southeastern on Jan. 20 was canceled. Head Coach Ed Pendoski said he was not given the formal reason for the cancellation and he had no control over the decision that was made by the IHSAA. He said the team reacts to canceled games differently based on their attitudes before the scheduled match.

He said, “(The mood in the room) just depends on our practice habits before the game and our energy in the room from our leaders. Sometimes it gets boring when there is no one to wrestle against because it feels good to exhaust all that energy we had before the game. But other times it’s taken positively if we had a tough schedule and we just need some practice.”

Junior Eitan Halevi said some wrestlers on the team have not thought about the cancellations too much because they are focusing a lot on the Sectional tournament. He said the extra time from the canceled games allow him and the team to have extra practice for the upcoming Sectional tournament.

Pendoski agreed with Halevi and said, “Having more time in the practice room allows our coaching staff to have more time to focus on our kids individually. That helps our wrestlers to fine tune any weaknesses that they may have for the competitions we have later in the season.”

By: Aniket Biswal