Streetsboro Head Wrestling Coach Josh Zupancic, who has been at Streetsboro for six years, is hopeful that this one can be great.

With the COVID changes, the wrestlers are not able to participate in any large, two-day tournaments.  “Normally, we wrestle in two large tournaments a year,” Zupancic said.  Without the tournaments, the wrestlers still look forward to the Metro conference season, qualifying for districts and then qualifying for states.

“We lost two conference champions from last year’s team,” Zupancic said.  But returning is the team’s state alternate from last season, senior Tyler Bodovetz. 

“We also welcome back a total of five district qualifiers,” he said. “Additionally, we have a large influx of experienced freshmen who were part of a team that won over 20 dual meets and easily won the Metro league in middle school last season.”

Even when wrestlers are in different weight classes, they can still practice together,” Zupancic explained.  “Even one of the largest wrestlers can share a wrestling move or technique with a smaller wrestler that might work for them. They also encourage each other through tough times,” 

Aside from Bodovetz, the returning seniors are…

“The seniors should be a good group, as they have had a good amount of success,” Zupancic said.They have also been very helpful with mentoring younger wrestlers the last couple years and I think will be great leaders this year because of that.”

Winning the conference and seeing some wrestlers advance to the state tournament are possibilities this year, he added.  

Woodridge, Norton and Cloverleaf are their toughest competitors. “We have beat them in tournament competition recently but not in dual meets,” Zupancic said  “Woodridge will likely be the most formidable as they bring back most of their team from last year that had a lot of depth, including two state qualifiers.”

Even though everyone loves to win, Zupancic said he wants the guys to “enjoy the sport and hopefully grow an appreciation for it for the rest of their lives.”