By Dana Ehrmann
Sports Correspondent
Zack Fisher, second-year coach of the boys Catholic Central wrestling team, has two very different goals for his squad this season.
One goal is to send his first wrestler to the state tournament, and the other is simply for his team to master the basics of wrestling.
Disparate though they may be, both have a great chance of being achieved.
That’s because Coach Fisher is overseeing a small team of three wrestlers with varying experience.
Junior Jack Czerwinski is a Catholic Central returner. This year he will serve as team captain while wrestling at 120 lbs.
Last season, he finished third at regionals, with the first and second place finishers both moving on to state. With more experience under his belt, Czerwinski looks to punch his first state ticket this year.
His teammates, sophomore Anthony Simonelli and freshmen Caleb Kresken, will wrestle at 132 and 152, respectively.
Less experienced, Coach Fisher’s goal for them is more to “gather the basics of wrestling and excel at them by the end of the year.”
The small squad is a double-edged sword moving forward.
“Our strength is definitely the amount of attention each kid gets during a practice,” said the Coach.
The downside to a small group is that the Hilltoppers will have very little chance of winning any duels or tournaments.
Their first test came in a scramble against Watertown High School on December 5.
Czerwinski went 1-4, placing him 11 out of 16 wrestlers at 120. Simonelli went 0-4 at 138, as did Kresken at 152.
The wins weren’t there for the Hilltoppers, but Coach Fisher is not worried yet.
“We open our season with our hardest tournament for a reason, and it’s so we can see the end goal early,” he said. “Some of the state’s best schools and wrestlers compete there and it helps to keep the kids focused for the rest of the year.”
And similarly, Coach Fisher believes that the best quality a wrestler can have is relentlessness, “not just on the mat but in everything – relentless to get a takedown, to finish first in every sprint, and even to excel in school.”
Czerwinski fourth at scramble
The boys Catholic Central wrestling team wrestled in another scramble over the weekend at Whitewater High School.
Junior Jack Czerwinski came in fourth place in the 120- pound weight class, going 2-3.
Sophomore Anthony Simonelli came in seventh place, going 1-4 at 132, and freshman Caleb Kresken also came in seventh place at 152, ending his day at 1-3.
“We saw great improvements in all of the kids but know we have a long way to go,” said head coach Zack Fisher.
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