Wrestling+Team

Summary ( Isaiah Hekenberg after winning a match) The Belleville West wrestling team had its first formal season in 1937. There had been attempts before to start a wrestling team but these were unsuccessful. The 1937 wrestling team had a great first season and made the Belleville West wrestling team a major sport at West. The wrestling team has had a great history at West, including state qualifiers and winning many matches against their rivals the Belleville East Lancers. History (The 2009 wrestling team) (The 1937 wrestling team) After many failures to start a wrestling team Belleville west finally succeeded in 1937. The 1937 wrestling team started with a winning record and sent four wrestlers to the state championship. West has continued this dominance throughout its history Many of the coaches for the wrestling team used to be great wrestles at West. Both Coach Joe and Coach Sears used to wrestle for west and were very good. John Dahm the principle at Belleville West wrestled at state for Belleville west. The West wrestling team hopes to continue to dominate wrestling in the area. Once the District split into two schools, East and West, revelry between the two started. Belleville West and East wrestling teams have been meeting for many years at the Battle of Belleville. This is a tournament that gives bragging rights to the winner. Each year West hopes to crush the competition and win the Battle of Belleville. No matter how well Belleville West wrestles they are still a vital part of our school. State Competition (Pinning the opponent) The Belleville West wrestling team has always done very well at state. In 1939 West got 4th place as a team at state. In 1940 and 1976 West received 5th place. The 1980 season gave west a 6th place victory. In 2000 and 2001 West was in the top 8. West had a run from 1940 to 1947 where West sent atleast one wrestler to state. Then West had another state run from 77 to 82. Our last state placing wrestler was Ira in 2005. Coaches The first coach for the belleville west wrestling team was coach Rauth. The Coach of the wrestling team now is Al Sears but there are also other coaches like Coach Joe and Coach Hanusak. Record Holders In 2009 Jared Korte broke the record for most pins in a season, he had 31 beating the previous record of 28. The record for the most pins in a career is held by B.J. Bertelsman(95-98) with 88 pins.