The Southmoreland Wrestling team looks forward into the season with three returning state qualifiers from last year. The three returning qualifiers include seniors Evan Myers (145) and Jake Beistel (265), along with Sophomore Tyler Griffiths (132).
One wrestler who is staying on his “A” game is senior Beistel, who is currently ranked first in the state in his weight class. Beistel said he has decided to further his training by himself at Inate, a fitness training center in Penn Trafford.
“It helps me get into better shape and gives me more confidence toward my goal,”said Beistel.”I want to be an undefeated state champion.”
Myers looks to stay on the path by continuing to give his all into everything wrestlers do at practice.
“Not placing last year at states makes me push myself harder as a wrestler and a person,” said Myers.
While Myers two losses at states where to wrestlers ranked fifth and seventh in Pennsylvania, Coach Ryan Shaw said he has “full faith in Myers” but knows “he has a lot of progress ahead.”
Griffiths, who placed 8th at states last year, looks to go deeper into the state wrestling tournament.
“He had a good run placing eighth as a freshman,”said Shaw. “I look to see him placing higher this season and going further through” the tournament.
Griffiths says he “wasn’t satisfied” with his eighth place finish and wants to reach a higher place on the medal stand.
“I won’t be satisfied until I’m on the medalist stand with a first place medal around my neck,” said Griffiths.
Last season the team turned to Inate Fitness for more training in the offseason to get them prepared. This year however, the team has decided not to take part in the program.
“The money played a big factor in deciding whether or not to return,”said Coach Ryan Shaw.”Instead we’ve decided to use that money for more tournaments and matches.”
Returning wrestlers say Inate helped them with strength and techniques they lacked.
While some wrestlers were on board with the program. But junior wrestler Anthony Wise (126)had a different take.
“The program could’ve been better,” Wise said. “It was stuff we could’ve done ourselves. We lost training time because of the traveling we had to do to get there.”
Returing state qualifier Evan Myers took the experience of Inate combining it with physically preparing the team along with making it a bonding session for the group as a whole.
“You bond with the whole team,”said Myers.”The team is like a chain; if one of us breaks, we all break.”
Coach Shaw said his main goal this year is “to win the section, along with sending six guys to states.”
“Southmoreland has never had a state champion,” Shaw  said optimistically.”I look to give us six, but that also means we have a lot of work ahead of us.”