Men's Wrestling's next chapter of the season underway

MEQUON, Wis. -- Concordia Wisconsin Men's Wrestling head coach Kevin Koch preaches to his guys to be prepared every day, compete as hard as you can and understand there are different chapters of the season. The Falcons are currently in the early stages of chapter two of the season, the team portion where they compete in mainly duals.

Koch had the chance to sit down with CUWFalcons.com to assess the season thus far and talk about what chapter two entails.

What is your view on the season thus far?
We've grown a lot. Like I said in the preseason interview, the guys had a great preseason workload and their success is now showing on the mat. We still have a lot of improvements to make. We have some guys with some winning records and we have been successful in duals to this point. It is really exciting, but we can't get complacent. We are working hard, staying focused and bringing the H.E.A.T. (heart, effort, attitude, together) in their training and it is exciting to see where we have come. I tell the guys all the time have pride in where you have come and faith in where you can go.

The Falcons have been achieving success so far this season with a 3.16 team grade point average in the first semester and a 4-2 record in duals, which included starting the season 4-0.

This team is very young. Has that worked to your advantage?
Our team is young. We only have two seniors and one junior in the lineup and a couple of sophomores, and we have six freshmen in the lineup and we are winning duals. That is exciting, but with that said, we still have holes in our lineup to compete with the best teams in the country. Wrestling at the end of the season is an individual sport. February and March is the goal right now and we need to continue to train hard and wrestle the best we can. Our national qualifying regional is the toughest in the nation, so even if you have a good record and defeated some really good opponents, you have to put together a good tournament at regionals to make it to nationals.

How has the preparation of the team been?
Our philosophy is to break down the season into three chapters. The first chapter is to get everyone to find their role and find what works for them on the wrestling mat. So, we try to do a lot of open tournaments and not a lot of duals, because then everyone can get matches and continue to get better. The second part of the season is more about the team and that includes duals. It takes everyone's effort to make the team be successful. The third part of the season goes back to be to the individual, with us having our conference tournament, regionals and nationals. Chapter two, which we are in right now, is about the team and perfecting what you know works.

What are your expectations for chapter two?
Obviously to compete because we have a lot of duals and they are against some really good teams. We have to be ready to go each time we have a dual. We just need to wrestle to our best ability and not give up bonus points. If you can get a major decision, technical fall or pin, go get those because those extra points are important. And then in those matches where the other guy might be better, try not to give up those extra points. Those are the expectations for this chapter of the season, is to compete and to also perfect what we are doing. We aren't teaching new things now, we are perfecting the things we are good at now.