Wrestlers Miya Johnson and Eliana Winfrey work on moves.

The Tyler consolidated wrestling team kicked off its season this week under head coach Eric McKeever, with a roster of 16 boys and 10 girls.

This year marks an exciting development for the program, as the girls will compete with their own 10 match schedule. Although practice for the boys has been somewhat limited due to several athletes still playing football, the girl’s team is already in full swing. Early preseason rankings have the boy’s team sitting at 7th in the state while the girl’s team is ranked an impressive 4th across all classifications. On the boy’s side senior Colson Spragg is ranked 4th in the state while fellow senior Branson Winfrey is ranked 7th. It looks like an exciting season ahead for both squads.

Coach McKeever shared his thoughts on the start of the season, saying, “It’s been very difficult to practice with 11 kids still playing football and the other five boys vary in weight and experience, so it has been a challenging period I’ve been able to spend more quality time with the girls team teaching fundamentals, which is a plus.”

Elena Winfrey who enters the season ranked number one in the state will lead the Tyler Consolidated girls wrestling team. The team is eagerly anticipating its historic first girl’s match, which will take place on Wednesday, December 11th at 6:00 PM. Meanwhile, the boy’s team won’t host their first home match until January 22nd which is a quad with the addition of last year’s state champs, Wheeling Central. The boys’ team will open the season on December 10th with a quad match at Doddridge. The girls will open on December 7th at Williamstown. Both teams are excited about the opportunities ahead and look forward to building on their rankings.