Wrestling is back for another winter with new athletes on the squad. They will be missing some stars such as Ramin Abraham who went undefeated and won the 2019 state championship—ETHS’ first conference championship in 14 years—affecting the way other schools view the Evanston wrestling program.

Coming off of an extraordinary year, Evanston is ready to step up to the challenge. Senior Max Morton, and juniors Emily McCandlish and Ricardo Salinas are this year’s captains.

“We have a lot of guys that have been wrestling in this program for awhile that have built up a lot of leadership,” Morton said. “We’ve learned from the guys [who wrestled at Evanston] before us.”

The wrestling team is on a mission to win the conference title once again. Evanston’s athletes will be backed up by an experienced set of coaches. Led by coach Rudy Salinas, the players feel that the coaches are leading them towards another strong season. 

“Coach Salinas does a great job developing all of us, and [the coaches] really get us ready,” Morton said.

The Kits have a 13-4 record. They have dominated the competition against Hope, Ida Crown and Lane Tech, but fell short against New Trier. The wrestlers displayed the work they put in before the match, and it’s already an exciting season on the mat. The Kits will head to Niles West tonight at 5:30 p.m. in pursuit of another win.

*A previous version of this article in the printed issue contained inaccuracies that have now been corrected.**