St. John’s wrestling opens season with win over Nebraska Wesleyan

The St. John’s wrestling team opened their season this past weekend with a pair of meets: a dual meet against Nebraska-Wesleyan on Saturday and the Haws/Elton Rumble on Sunday. Both meets were hosted in Collegeville by the Johnnies. They managed a comeback win against Nebraska-Wesleyan thanks to a decision from senior Jacob Vaughan and pins from first-year Jordan Silvera and sophomore Aidan Wayne. Wayne said this early season victory excited the team.

“We did good on the dual meet against Nebraska. Some of our guys started to win and then eventually that helped motivate more guys, and we were able to win it in the end,” Wayne said.

The team has brought in a large group of new talent, with 19 first-year athletes joining the program this year. This group increases the total number of athletes on the team from 27 last season to 44 this season. Head coach Kevin Schiltz described wrestling as a pyramid sport, meaning over the course of four years each class will inevitably lose athletes after each season. Having such a large first-year class provides the team with invaluable depth at each weight class in order to build the best possible rotation for the end-of-season meets.

The transition into the life of a collegiate athlete can be difficult when participating in a sport as physically demanding as wrestling. Vaughan said that the teams’ upperclassmen have stepped up to help their new teammates.

“The older guys are really taking in the younger guys under their wing, showing them what’s up. And I feel like that will really help for the future of St. John’s wrestling,” Vaughan said.

The leadership exemplified by the upperclassmen on the team stems from their coaching staff. Wayne described Schiltz as someone who always keeps the team on the right track.

“He is more like a father figure, I’d say—always has your back. If you ever need anything, you can go to him and he’ll help you out,” Vaughan said.

Schiltz emphasized the importance of others sharing their knowledge.

“As far as me trying to help this team, the coaching piece, [I’m] trying to bring in more assistant coaches so that we can share our knowledge a little bit more fluidly,” Schiltz said.

This year, the team will focus on maintaining team camaraderie to assist each other with daily improvement. Vaughan explained that last year they had setbacks in keeping the team feeling like a family and that itwill work to not repeat that this year. With a long season that runs until the end of February, keeping each other focused is a key focal point.

“If we see someone not trying hard, then the older guys are doing a good job of motivating them so it doesn’t spread into everyone else not trying,” Wayne said.

Last season, of the ten athletes on the team who competed at regionals, first-years Connor Krueger and Owen Herbst both finished in eighth place. The goal of the team is to place more athletes at regionals and nationals this year. To get there, Vaughan said that they have stepped up their practices from last year. He explained that they are lifting more weights and paying closer attention to what they put in their bodies.

“[We] have the guys watch the film with a coach, and then we try to attack those things that we can add to their wrestling style… Over the course of the year, they have made all the adjustments they could make in that time frame to be the best that they can be at the end of the year,” Schiltz said.

The Johnnies will continue their season on Nov. 23 at the UW-Eau Claire 8-Man Battle, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.