The ADM wrestling team went 1-4 in its five-match dual meet tournament at Grinnell High School over this past weekend, but despite the team’s struggles, head coach Justin Schmauss was again pleased with how his wrestlers performed individually.

Schmauss says a couple of the day’s team losses came as a result of being forced to forfeit points at certain weights, so he isn’t looking too much into how the team has performed overall.

Ultimately, the Tigers have faced some great competition in their first weeks of the season, and Schmauss believes that will pay dividends later on.

“Just looking at our schedule, it’s been pretty tough.  I think if we keep working hard and keep at it and trying to get better… even if our guys get beat, it’s better to have that competition and know where you stand and know what you need to work on rather than having a soft schedule, and (then) roll into sections or districts and you get your eyes opened and you don’t know what happened.  So, I’d rather have (the eye-opening) happen now, and then we’ll know what we need to work on as far as that goes.”

Schmauss says Hunter Gibson and Nathan Heath were the Tigers’ top two performers last Saturday, as both went undefeated in their matches.  Trevor Harsh and Zach Johnston also received praise for their performances from their head coach.

Those four wrestlers and the rest of the ADM Tigers have more big matches in the days ahead, so we’ll continue to see how they perform against some top competition.

Tomorrow, ADM will wrestle in a triangle dual against Winterset and Carlisle, and then the Tigers will travel to Waterloo for three matches each on Friday and Saturday as part of the 32-team Battle of Waterloo tournament.