Junior Tiegan Podliska looks for an opportunity to strike.

Coming out of the gates, the wrestling team is hoping to charge its opponents to the ground after a somewhat-disappointing season last year.

Coach Randy Steward enters his 16th season as the team’s head coach looking for his guys to make great strides on the mats.
“We will have a lot of new faces vying for positions in the starting lineup,” Steward said. “The goal is to prepare everyone to improve and be in the best possible position at the end of the season.”

Last season, the team posted a 4-4 dual-meet record in the Iowa Conference, and individual qualifiers went 2-6 at the NCAA Championships. Steward and his team know that they have a hard road ahead if they want to improve from last season.

“Our expectations right now are to improve on that record, and we are working diligently and daily to do that,” he said. “We need to get better, and I hope we do each week that we compete.”

This season, the coaching staff is excited about the number of wrestlers returning to the team and it wants to be able to transition the new wrestlers into the mix, which should not be difficult as a result of the leadership that has been displayed by some of the older wrestlers on the team.

“We have approximately 20 wrestlers back from last season,” Steward said. “As I said earlier, it is time for some new faces to step up and stand out. We are trying to evaluate individual strengths at this point in the season,” Steward said. “Senior Mark Beatty is a three-year starter, and we hope he will emerge as a leader as the season progresses. We are watching other upperclassmen to see who will assume leadership roles.”

The Loras team saw some action on campus not too long ago. On Nov. 7, the Graber Center hosted the annual Loras Open for teams to get some competitive practice under their belts.

“It was an extremely competitive tournament — and I thought we wrestled solid for our first competition. We need to work on feet position and defense and escaping from the bottom,” Steward said.

Nov. 13 marked the team’s first competitive match with another school, Elmhurst College, but the Duhawks struggled during the 33-6 defeat.

The Duhawks have another open competition this weekend on Saturday, Nov. 21, in Mequon, WI, before they begin preparations for their first conference matchup against perennial national powerhouse Wartburg on Dec. 2.