Excitement is in the air for the Wayne High boys wrestling program with a big senior class leading the way on the varsity line-up.
WHS boys wrestling has seen a slight increase with 29 out for the 2024-25 season. Last year, the team was in the mid-20s.
Levi Pofahl has been coaching wrestling close to 10 years overall including the past six in Wayne with four years on the high school staff. Coach Pofahl will be starting his second year as a head coach and leading the boys program this season.
Coach Pofahl said along with the new kids joining, there's plenty of returning experience who were ready from day one including one of the best practices since being around the program during the second week.
"The kids handled it," said Pofahl. "They handle the intensity, we got to coach, we got to walk around and help. We talk about accountability, that was our big thing. Seeing the kids kind of take that leadership role and roll with it and kind of hold each other accountable."
Assisting coach Pofahl will be long-time assistant Terry Beair along with Cooper Coons.
Three graduated last year including two state qualifiers as this year's freshman class brought in a handful along with some first year wrestlers.
Seniors this year are Will Leseberg (126), Hunter Foote (138), Kasen York and Ty Zach (144), Zander Liston (165) and Colton Shepperd (215).
Leseberg qualified at state his freshman year in 2022, was out with a concussion two years ago the week before districts and then last year lost a heart break match during the district round.
Junior Grant Maas (150) is a returning state qualifier. Coach Pofahl added he has spent a lot of time in the weight room, a lot of time at camps, training and off-season tournaments.
"The time that he's put in is second to none I'll say that," Pofahl added. "I think that you'll see a pretty significant jump in his success this year with that. Some of those kids that he was right there with or they might have gotten the better of I think he closed the gap quite a bit on them."
For the second year, a Blue/White night was held at the elementary gym on Tuesday, November 26. The Blue Devils treated it like a weigh-in to get some of the jitters out for the freshman and first-time wrestlers.
Coach Pofahl mentioned there's going to be some great competitions this winter.
"You know 106 is going to be a tough one with Emmanuel Gonzalez (So.) and Grady Maas (Fr.); same thing with 126 between Will Leseberg (Sr.) and Thomas Raymundo (So.); 215 could be a good wrestle-off with Colton Shepperd (Sr.) and Keaton Gregory (So.) and then 144 Ty Zach (Sr.) and Kasen York (Sr.)."
Several alum were also back ahead of the Thanksgiving break as the coaching staff would like to thank the support of the community.
The Wayne High boys wrestling team will join the girls program for their season-opening competition with a home triangular on Thursday, Dec. 5. WHS will host Wisner-Pilger and Summerland starting at 5 p.m.
Both coach Pofahl along with the head girls wrestling coach Jason Trautman has set a goal of getting people out and supporting the Blue Devils.
"Wrestling is one of those sports that it's kind of hard to understand from the outside," said Pofahl. "But I think the new scoring with the three-point take down and the near fall simplifies the scoring aspect of it. So sometimes people come to these meets and they're like 'I don't even know how you score'. But they've done a really good job and the rules committee has done a good job of simplifying it for the average fan."
Wayne High wrestling will be hosting alumni nights, youth nights, parents night and creating more involvement from the community.
Other home competition includes Thursday, Dec. 12; Tuesday, Jan. 7 and Thursday, Jan. 16.
