The ADM wrestling team is back on the practice mats after enjoying a few days off this past week for Christmas.

Last weekend, the Tigers concluded the first part of their season by competing in the Battle of Waterloo tournament, where they placed sixth out of seven teams in their pool.

Head coach Justin Schmauss has remained encouraged by the individual performances of some of his wrestlers despite the team’s lackluster results to this point in the year, which he attributes to the high level of competition the Tigers have faced.

They may be struggling now, but Schmauss knows his wrestlers are building the toughness they’ll need later on this season.

“If you wrestle a kid who is ranked in state or is a returning state-qualifier or place-winner and you can get in there and hang with him and hit a few moves–maybe you don’t beat them, but then you wrestle this kid who is supposed to be good, they don’t feel like they’re that good.  You just get that confidence like, ‘hey I can hang with these guys, I can go with this’, and that’s how you get better.  You never see how good you truly are until you challenge yourself.”

Right now is currently a down time in the Tigers’ wrestling schedule, as they won’t get any of that head-to-head competition that Schmauss so much enjoys for almost two weeks.

ADM will next wrestle on Thursday, January 9th, in a home dual meet versus DC-G.