Simpson College men’s wrestling hosted the American Rivers Conference Duals on Saturday against Loras College, Luther College, Coe College and Nebraska Wesleyan University. The Storm walked away with six individual wins but no team victories.
At the conference duals, three out of the four teams were top-ranked: No. 9 Luther, No. 11 Coe, and No. 19 Loras.
Fifth-year senior Andrew Wolff said he felt excited to take on top-ranked ARC teams throughout the day. “It’s going to be really fun to scrap with them and see where we’re at compared to the best in the country,” Wolff said.
The Storm started the day off against Nebraska Wesleyan in round two of the duals, where they claimed five individual wins: first-year Jonathan Valdez, sophomore Ethan Riesselman, junior Noel Torres, sophomore Jonathan Casaus and junior Troy Galloway. The team held a close victory but fell short 26-18.
The Storm faced Luther in round three and fell 47-0. In round four, they took on Loras and fell 47-6. Coe defeated the Storm in round five, 53-0, ending the day.
Riesselman led the Storm as the only player with two victories for the day. He claimed his titles against Nebraska Wesleyan and Loras in the second and fourth rounds.
The team still has high hopes going forward despite their loss. Wolff said the team demonstrated growth from the season’s beginning to now.
“We were very young, very green at the beginning. A lot of new guys into the lineup,” Wolff said. “Moving forward, even after this season, they’re going to develop into a really great team.”
Galloway said the team overcame leaps and bounds in their performance throughout the season and had been working hard in practices to see improvements.
“We’re definitely way more conditioned than we were at the beginning of the year, and I’d say our mat wrestling is way better than it was,” Galloway said.
The team expects to peak at regionals in March, and according to Galloway, the team is on track to do so. “Every day at practice, everyone’s always getting better. I haven’t seen anyone regress,” he said.
Wolff and Galloway are also taking extra steps to ensure they continue improving and preparing for regionals themselves.
“I do my nutrition nice, my diet is good, going hard in the weight room and practice, in the classroom. Trying to keep all those areas even,” Galloway said.
Wolff had to take a different approach to training as he tore his ACL at the beginning of the season.
“It’s a lot of bike cardio, wrestling in the positions that I don’t think I’m comfortable with just to try to get comfortable in those positions,” Wolff said. “For me personally, it’s just been tried and true. Try it out—doesn’t work—try it again later.”
The Storm will have their next match at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake on Saturday, Feb. 8. The team will compete three more times before performing at regionals, where they can display their hard work one more time.
