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RANDOLPH – After four years co-oping with wrestles from Laurel-Concord-Coleridge, the Randolph Cardinals are on their own once again when the fall season begins.
The Cardinals and head coach Mark Lech return full-time to their own environs and roster as they make the move to Class D.
“We start the season with good numbers on both the boys’ and girls’ teams,” Lech said. “The returning leaders for the boys are seniors Aiden Gubbels and Bryson Eledge. Gage Jensen, Justin Backer, and Gavin Wortman are three returning juniors that will be large contributors. All of these upperclass wrestlers have done well in the past and they are all hungry to get that big win at districts and qualify for the state tournament.
“Emilee Olson, a junior, is our returning wrestler for the girls and their leader this year. She was close to qualifying last year for state and will be invaluable in helping guide an inexperienced girls team.”
Lech is fortunate enough to have a plethora of bodies to chose from, with many being first timers from all grades.
“We will also have some strong freshmen that have wrestled in junior high and will contribute to the varsity right away. Cole Jensen and Owen Junck both come into high school having wrestled for many years and we look forward to how they will compete this year.
“Gracie Wortman and Madelyn Aulner bring similar experience for the girls team.”
The boys should fill 10 weight classes and Lech expects the unit to be competitive while the girls look to develop experience over time.
“We will continue with the same schedule that they competed with last year with a full complement of duals and some big tournaments mixed in,” Lech said of the co-op schedule from last year they will maintain this year.
The girls and boys will open the season with a dual at Winnebago on Thursday, Nov. 30 and then their first tournament with the boys will take place at Creighton (Saturday, Dec. 2) and the girls at West Holt (Monday, Dec. 4).
Gubbels is looking forward to the new-look roster and 100 percent Randolph representation.
“I liked (the Laurel wrestlers) and got along with them, but I think it’s just going to be nice bringing it back to Randolph and having our own team,” he said. “Our roster is pretty filled out – and it’s quite an improvement from what we’ve had from Randolph in the past.
“We have to get used to the Class D wrestlers. In my opinion, each class has wrestlers that wrestle differently.”
Gubbels also enjoys being on the Randolph mats after Laurel was battling with gym remodeling a year ago and so it wasn’t always readily available.
“I feel confident and I feel like we have quite a few good wrestlers coming up and continuing to come up,” he said. “We got some new kids out who haven’t wrestled, but I know they’ll be eager to learn and ready to get down some wrestling in time.”
