By Tanner Mauk and Justice Parker

After the long wrestling season, the annual banquet for the wrestlers will be held on Thursday, March 13 in honor of  all the wrestlers and their many accomplishments that came throughout the season. Along with the accomplishments of the wrestlers, the hard work and leadership of the seniors over the past four years will be honored as well. This years seniors are Darrian Schwenke, Dillon Cox, Jez Phippen, Jacob Johnson, Tyler Ross, and Tyler Christensen.

The past wrestling banquets have all been similar to the one before it, starting with a meal that creates a huge line, led by the seniors and their parents. After the meal, the cheerleaders and middle school wrestlers have their time to receive awards, then the high school coaches take over to honor the AHS wrestlers. The coaches talk about many things, including the person accomplishments, the individual accomplishments, and the work ethic. This year some of the team’s accomplishments were placing 8th at the state tournament with only 5 wrestlers there, along with some individual accolades like having a state champion, and two medalists. All of the AHS wrestlers that were expected to place, placed higher than they were seeded for the tourney. This year, the coaches will have plenty to talk about.

Throughout the rest of the banquet, the coaches will give out more awards and receive gifts of their own, bought by the wrestlers. Some of the awards include, the Ironman award given to the wrestlers that never missed a practice, and Most Improved Wrestler. After all of this, there is a wrestling slide show, made by Sue Fischer, that includes pictures from the season and baby pictures of all the senior wrestlers. To support the wrestlers and see them get these awards for the last time ever, come to the banquet on Thursday!