Quite a few changes have been made to this year's Crofton-Bloomfield Girls Wrestling Program. One of the first changes to the program this year has been the change in the new head coach, Jaden Janssen.
Janssen has been a part of the team since the 2021-2022 season. He was the assistant girls wrestling coach last year and a volunteer coach the previous year.
Janssen said, “I am most looking forward to this season to see the girls improve and to see how hard they work and to just have fun!”
This year’s girls wrestling team has grown from formerly having five wrestlers to nine wrestlers. There are four girls from Bloomfield (Fr. Gracie Zeber, Fr. Chelbi Pruitt, Jr. Jasmine Reyes, Soph. Linkin Rahn) and five from Crofton (Jr. Annabelle Poppe, Jr. Rylie Arens, Soph. Pamela Dennis, Soph. Alexa Suing, Fr. Elizabeth DeRoos).
“This season we have a lot of new girls out so we will have a wide range of wrestlers. I’m hoping everyone can learn, get better, and win some matches,” said Janssen.
The team returns two state medalists Poppe, a state runner-up, and Arens, fifth place medalist. Poppe stated, “I am very excited to be wrestling with a bigger team and being able to compete for team titles.”
Poppe finished last season with a winning record of 31-9, and Arens finished with a record of 28-5. The team has set many goals for themselves. Arens stated her personal goal is to “bring home some state hardware and move up a couple places from last year's finish.”
The Crofton-Bloomfield wrestling team will have their first meet on Saturday December 2, at 9:30 a.m. in O’Neill.