Tough weekend for the Jeff Wrestling squad as they took on the #2, #5, and #8 ranked teams in the state, going 0-4 on the weekend. Opening their season 3 weeks ago with #1 ranked Perry Meridian, #7 ranked Warren Central was a tough way to start. But then due to weather the HHC Duals got canceled, and they moved onto the Kentucky state champions, St.X . “This has been a tough start to the season. Wrestling 8 top ten teams in the first 3 meets is not an easy task. But it is what we want, we want to wrestle the best. My goal is to give the kids the best competition 
possible, and their job is to go after that competition. We wrestle the toughest schedule in southern Indiana, and I’d put our schedule up against the best in the state. 8 years ago we had a 21-3 season and didn’t win sectionals. I switched our schedule, we went 17-15 and won sectionals and ended the season in the top 20 for the first time. It is not the wins and losses that we are after, it is about being the best version of our selves we can be day in and day out. Not trying to be better than anyone in particular, but about the pursuit of being the best. Our schedule tests that, and so far has proven the outcome at the end of the season is more important than what happens during.” Jeffersonville has kept this schedule for the past 6 years, in that time they have won 5 sectional titles and 3 conference titles, while sending multiple kids to state each year and keeping the longest current running streak in the area with the most consecutive wrestlers in the state finals.
As a result of this schedule, it will be a tough hill to climb as the JHS wrestling team is seeded 12th out of 16 in this weekends Jeff Classic. There was a time frame recently when Jeffersonville was finishing top two each year for 4 consecutive years. “It is our goal to win state, we can’t win every tournament all year, then wonder what happened when we lose at sectionals. When we got 2nd, Invited Carmel HS to the classic, they won and we got second again. When we beat Carmel, I invited Mater Dei to the tournament, and we took second. We did that two years in a row. Mater Dei dropped out and Bloomington South was brought in, again we took second. We want to win by truly being the best, not just the best of who was invited, but by being the best. It is no mystery we don’t like being seeded 12th at this meet. And we know why we are there. With only 3 returning starters, we have to keep working hard to get better and gain experience. But the kids are battling back, they are getting 1% better every single day, and we will finish higher than seeded. Finishing at our seed or higher is our goal every year.”
“We don’t like losing, and losing bad is no fun. But we do what we do, we try to get 1% better every single day at practice. We try to instill the drive to be the best version of our selves we can be, and we go after wrestling the best, no matter what.”
Jeffersonville 3, Bloomington South 3 (ranked #2)
Jasper (#8 ranked) 47, Jeffersonville 27
Jeffersonville 12, Castle 61
Mater Dei 70 (ranked #5), Jeffersonville 9
Top records on the day were Gavan Jolley-Little (ranked #8 in the state) going 4-0 today (8-0 on the season). Highlight of Gavan’s day would have been beating his opponent from Bloomington South who is ranked #14 in the state. Last time they met, last season Bloomington South won. First year varsity wrestler as a junior, Chase Thompson went 3-1 on the day, and is now 6-2 on the season. Stevie Jones, DavidPulliam, Josh Sauer, Chase Thompson and Gavan Jolley-Little all picked up wins versus Jasper.
….and if that wasn’t hard enough, the JHS wrestling team will take on the #4 ranked team in KY on Wednesday – Trinity.