The wrestling team closed out their season with two losses in a tri-meet against the B-CC Barons and WJ Wildcats. Despite starting the season 6-0, major losses from injury and sickness held the Vikings back as they headed into a difficult series of duals.

Going into the meet, the Vikes had to forfeit three matches in each meet due to holes in the lineup. Several wrestlers are currently suffering from mononucleosis which has been running rampant on the team, benching Whitman’s two top wrestlers, 145-pound Mitch Fenton and 126-pound Andrew Shiman.

In addition, a back injury to 132-pound James Bamberger and a referees disqualification during a pregame check for 138-pound Cyrus Sobhani took them both out of the lineup as well.

In the first dual against B-CC, the Vikings wrestled well but were unable to overcome an early 18-0 hole they started in because of forfeits.

It was a similar story against WJ; however, Whitman had several impressive matches, including a short heavy match from 195-pound Jonah Brain, an early lat-drop from 170-pound Ezra Alexander, and a strong performance from 182-pound Connor Barrett in his first varsity appearance of the season.

The Vikes kept it close the entire match but fell behind as they gave up their last two matches to forfeits.

Despite the rough close to the season, the team is still incredibly proud of an otherwise successful run.

“This match brought tears to my eyes, watching my fellow seniors finish with strong performances was awesome,” Captain Evan Smith said. Smith did not wrestle most of the season due to an ACL injury.

The Vikes will return to compete individually in the county tournament Feb 20.