As the wrestling season started, so did the fight against ring worm. Ring worm is a skin disease that is easily transferred from person to person and survives greatly in the hot moist atmosphere of the wrestling room. Ring worm will always be a problem in wrestling and due to this problem; the IHSA has designed specific skin tests to look for the signs of it. The coaches and players are doing everything possible to combat the disease including cleaning the mats before and after practice with bleach, but it is still not enough. This is the first year that the players are allowed to take a shower at school after the practices due to the outbreak. The coaches do skin checks on all the players before and after practice to make sure that the disease has not spread to them and to be able to treat it sooner. Although the coaches are taking all these extra precautions to fight the disease, they know that ring worm will always be a part of wrestling.

The season has already had its setbacks due to the ring worm being spread and the injuries to key players. The team has pushed through the setbacks and won their first duel at all three levels and finished twelfth in a tournament. In their first duel victory, varsity won 72-11, junior varsity won 65-0 and freshmen won 32-27. Coach Benefiel was proud of the team’s showing in both the duel and tournament. At the tournament, Jim Spangler, a junior, placed first in the 135 pound weight class. Greg Rucker, Corey Whinchel, and Jayvin Bailey also placed in their respective weight classes. The coaches believe that as long as the team stays healthy and keeps up the pace that they are at, the team could be one of the better teams in the conference.