Musselman High School’s wrestling team has kept up with their competitive mindset. With the conclusion of this season, we look at what they accomplished and what they may accomplish in seasons ahead. The team consists of talented wrestlers who have been able to prove themselves throughout this season.
The team was able to qualify for the WV State Dual tournament for the first time in school history, an extremely impressive feat. Our school’s wrestlers were also able to beat Washington High, a top ten school for wrestling. Along with this, impressive performances from Landon Lioi and Zavier Pollard throughout the year and at the state tournament further solidified the school’s wrestlers as top competitors. At states, Zavier Pollard placed third, while Presley Hurlbrink, a freshman, finished first in the state for girls’ wrestling. Cicely Cullins and Abigail DeBerry, both great wrestlers on the girls’ team, placed 4th and 3rd in the state respectively.
“We were really impressed with Zavier Pollard’s performance and the girls’ team performed amazingly,” says the team’s assistant coach, Mr. Metz.
Presley Hurlbrink showed her skills, winning the state championship as a freshman.
“I’m really glad I got to win it as a freshman and I’m glad I have a few more chances to do it again,” says Presley in an interview with WV based wrestling multimedia platform Mat Time following her win.
The expectations have been met and have possibly been exceeded this year, but what about following years?
“We graduate a few seniors out of our starting lineup this year, Brayden Henderson, Kian Windsor, and Nathan Dunham, but we have young guys ready to step in.” says Coach Metz.
The team consists largely of sophomores and juniors, so the majority of the team will be returning next year. An example of a young guy who’s ready to step up would be Darragh Goodwyn. Darragh was able to go undefeated at the Fear the Spear Dual Tournament, showing a promising potential.
The team has been consistent, strong, and relentless, which will help it as it goes into next year.
