Valley Christian's wrestling team has had a great season so far. The team recently went to the Sydeula Orr Knight Invitational, which was one of their hardest invitationals of the season. They faced members from Campo Verde, Hamilton, Casteel, and Paradise Honors, all of which are higher divisions. Senior Carson Groff shared that his hardest match was the champion match because he was up against a wrestler that was a higher division than him. Going into the tournament, Carson knew it was going to be very hard and that he would have to fight hard to advance in the tournament. He did an amazing job and made it to the champion match, but he unfortunately lost that match, making that his second loss of the season.

Sisters Hannah Goldman and Bella Goldman, both of which are juniors, have been improving and doing very well this season. They also had the opportunity to wrestle at the Sydeula Orr Knight Invitational and they both fought very hard. Bella shared that she was very nervous going into the match, but she was confident in her ability to do well. She shared "I did very well at not getting in my head and going all three periods without being pinned, so I just lost by points." Hannah added and said that this invitational was particularly hard but she said that she has been improving her skills and takedowns.

Senior Jack Rockafellow has had a great season so far but his biggest challenge in the last few tournaments has been his conditioning since he is coming off an injury. He is working hard doing condition three times a day to get back in shape before qualifiers.

The boys wrestling team also participated in the Payson Multi Meet and the Northwest Christian Invitational. They did very well at each of these events and want to take what they learned from these matches and work hard to get to state.

The girls had sectionals this last weekend, which determined if they would be going to state or not. Bella said, "I think both Hannah and I have a good shot at making it to state. I'm looking forward to wrestling down a weight class, hopefully that'll give me a better chance to place in sectionals and then go to state." Hannah also added, "I had the opportunity of qualifying for state last year with Andie Donahue, and maybe this year after improving on my skills I can place at state and continue the legacy that Andie left." Congratulations to both Hannah and Isabella Goldman as they did in fact qualify for state!

The boys have sectionals this coming weekend and it looks like Jake, Carson and freshman Porter Cross have a a really good chance to make it to state this year!

Make sure to cheer on our Trojan wrestlers!

Girls State Information: https://azpreps365.com/championships/wrestling-girls
Boys State Information: https://azpreps365.com/championships/wrestling-boys