Exploding Whale Sports
October 29, 2015, 11:48am
Girls, football players, cross country runners and an "exciting transfer from Indiana" are among those considering wrestling for veteran Siuslaw coach Neil Wartnik this winter.
Practice starts Nov. 16, and the first match of the season is Dec. 5 at the Perry Burlison Invitational at Cascade High School in Turner, a few miles southeast of Salem.
"The girls can wrestle, and right now we're working on getting kids out to wrestle," Siuslaw athletic director Jeromy Graybill said. "Coach Wartnik takes two or three kids to state every year.
"We're looking forward to a successful season, and we're just building numbers right now."
Wartnik, in his 21st year as wrestling coach, lists a tentative roster that includes two big men on the Vikings football team, state wrestling qualifiers Kainan Lane and Dylan Jennings.
Student trainer Eyza Abbas, cross-country runners Murray Bingham and Ricky Huff and football players Caleb Paredes, Michael Mason, Justin Perkins and Nick Steinman are on the early roster, as are senior Andrew Tupua, a two-year letterman, and junior Scott Simmons, a transfer from Indiana.
The tentative roster below is organized by weight, from light to heavy.
"This is very sketchy, but these are the students who are contemplating (wrestling) at this time," Wartnik wrote.
Tentative roster
Athlete, year in school, weight class (if available)
Tentative schedule: