The time of the year has come for the arrival of the two traditional winter sports: swimming and wrestling. While basketball receives much of the limelight, these two sports deserve recognition as well due to the amount of effort and commitment the wrestlers and swimmers have to give to achieve success.

WRESTLING

The wrestling program is built up from the elementary level where the coaches begin to teach the kids simple drills and tactics. Coach Tyson Skinner explained that the team this season has already given him the second best atmosphere that he has coached so far at Madison Consolidated High School besides the 2013-14 squad who won the regional championship.

Skinner has one senior this season, Eric Leach, who “has taken a leadership role” on the entire team. The rest of the team has been amazing, according to Skinner.

“(The team) work(s) their tails off with no complaining,” Skinner said.

The wrestling team has the fewest members of any team in the HHC, but they have kept a positive mindset throughout their season thus far. While the team is young, the team does hope to reach some of last year’s success. The previous season, Madison sent 10 wrestlers to regionals and six to semi-state. To help attain their goals, they try to focus on fundamentals and conditioning to be able to outwork their opponents.

Kelsey Bilz, a sophomore on the wrestling team, is extremely passionate about her sport. Wrestling to her brings out her competitive side over every other sport she participates in.

“Whether girl or not, the sport is difficult, but as a girl the sport becomes more difficult mentally when you hear the words ‘he got beat by a girl,’ (and) ‘don’t get beat by a girl,’ and many more,” Bilz reflected.

These words help to motivate Bilz instead of effecting her in a negative way. Her goals this season are to go to regionals and to just become a better wrestler.

For the wrestling team as a whole, their goals are reachable and realistic. Goals for every one of their seasons is to be a better version of yourself than you were from the start. However, they will likely see some hardship along the way. The team had five seniors from last year graduate, and a couple members transferred to other schools; so this year they will be seeing a bundle of younger wrestlers placed into the varsity roles and getting their first taste of varsity action.

Another goal the team would love to reach is attaining at least fifteen football players on the wrestling team. “Both sports help each other out, and after surveying on our football schedule, I found out those teams average about twenty football players that also wrestle,” Skinner said.

Last season, the team tied their school record with twenty-seven wins, so this ‘18 season could be more focused on individual goals. Skinner would like to see a couple of his kids make some long runs in the state tournament.

The first wrestling meet was hosted by Madison against Southwestern High School on Monday, November 12.

SWIMMING

The Madison swim program is poised for success over the next several years. The team typically has a core group of athletes who return each season with a large number of them being multi-sport athletes who also swim year round. Most swim, and love it, because of how nicely it complements conditioning for other fall and spring sports as a way to help keep the athletes in shape and competing for MCHS.

“Swimming is a very different, demanding sport, and you have to really enjoy the work and be committed to finding a way to stay in the water as much as possible in order to maintain swim shape,”MCHS Head Swim Coach Ashley Schutte  said.

The swimming program also has an exceptionally strong feeder program in the H20 Swim Club. This program prepares the swimmers for both the MJHS and MCHS teams, beginning as young as five or six years old.

MCHS swim has an opportunity this season to be very competitive with teams of all sizes, win a number of meets, and really make some noise within the HHC leading up to sectional meets in February.

Schutte exclaimed, “Our ladies team is small, but super-competitive and ready to go!”

They have been practicing since October 22 and are putting in the work, pushing one another, and are anticipated to have excellent results. The girls are not afraid to work hard, push further and faster each day, and they believe they can and will win – a dream team for a coach.

One barrier the swim team will have to surmount is numbers. With nine members on the ladies team, it is hard to compete against larger teams who can fill each event, but they are expected to finish in the top three with every splash.

Anne Grady, a junior on the team, stated that swimming to her is a way to instill balance into her life.

“Whatever problems I have, whatever I’m feeling, washes away the second that water hits my body. It also helps that the team is united and we always get along so well,” Grady said.

Her goals for the season are to be simply be better than yesterday. She is extremely excited to put in the work and see the results.

The first meet for the girls team this season will be Tuesday, November 13. This will be a relay meet located at New Albany High School.

The male team is in a unique position this year with some incredible opportunities. Schutte is looking to the freshman to hit the ground running and make immediate contributions.

“In the off-season, I think our guys realized what is possible if they work together and commit to putting in the work. They have bought into the fact that if they work hard in summer conditioning, and during fall sports the transition to swim season is more enjoyable,” Schutte said.

All combined, that work ethic continues to pay dividends into their spring sport season and that is a win-win for everyone.

Regardless of the size of the team you are on or the size of the team you compete against, your mindset and attitude are paramount and yours to own. Swimming is mentally and physically very challenging and is not for everyone. There is nowhere to hide and no one else to blame. The clock doesn’t lie.

The swim team’s first co-ed meet will be Tuesday, November 20 located at Seymour High School.