Nov 17, 2020

Blue Jay Wrestling set to begin season with altered scheduling

Posted Nov 17, 2020 12:12 AM

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. — The Junction City High School wrestling team began practice on Monday. Head Coach Tyler Gonzalez said in an interview that he's excited for the challenges ahead.

"I know there's going to be issues and obstacles ahead, but I'm just excited to get back around the team," said Gonzalez. 

In wrestling, traditionally there are several different formats in scheduling like large tournaments and team duals, but this season due to the Coronavirus pandemic, high school wrestling will have a much different feel. 

"We're not allowed to go to a two day tournament or out of state, we're going to have to find ways to put new events in place of those events and still try and find a way to get a maximum number of competitions for that day," said Gonzalez on scheduling. "It does present some new challenges, but I think as a head wrestling coach and other coaches that I've been talking with are being pretty creative in what they're doing."

In place of the normal tournaments, there will be a variety of duals on the schedule for the Blue Jay wrestlers this season. For instance, some larger wrestling tournaments in previous years have included as many as 32 separate teams; however, this year, dual meets could employ a similar scheduling strategy to volleyball in how three to four teams could compete in multiple dual matches on the same day. 

"The recommendation from KSHSAA was not to attend tournaments larger than eight teams," said Gonzalez. "So we'll be doing and following that for when we are traveling, and then when we're hosting, I  believe we're only hosting what I call singular duals, so one team versus another team." 

The Blue Jay wrestlers will open their season with the Blue and White Scrimmage on December 1st at Junction City High School before hosting a dual tournament on Saturday, December 5th.