By Sydnee Horstman
In 2021, The St. Ambrose Wrestling Team took a bold step by launching its wrestling program and welcoming a group of dedicated athletes. This year is extra special: those athletes are seniors.
“It’s bittersweet,” says Head Coach Boe Bettinson. “I’m losing my first guys- that first class I brought in nineteen guys. Through the years we’ve lost a few, but we have fifteen seniors out of those original nineteen guys.”
For these athletes, wrestling is more than just a sport. It creates a brotherhood that extends far beyond the mat.
“They’re the first friends I made on campus and they are the ones I’ve rode with the whole way so it’ll definitely be an emotional ending but it’ll be a good one and cool to see where we all end up,” says Dylan Meiners, a senior.
The team hopes to dominate this season with its thirty-nine athletes- the most in program history.
“We’re gonna have the most depth we’ve ever had,” Meiners explains. “The competitive nature of the room has doubled, it is so much more intense, and there are freshmen that are going to be some studs.”
Coach Bettinson believes that the senior class “has built this program to what it is now.”
The team practices five to six days a week, building their stamina through rigorous workouts and circuit training to prepare for the upcoming season.
While it is the end of an era for the first wrestlers at S-A-U, the best is yet to come for these first years.
The wrestling team’s debut match will be at William Penn University on October 31st.
