The Westside varsity wrestling team outscored Papillion-LaVista South 51-21 on Wednesday, Jan. 27. This is the first time that Westside has been victorious over Papio-South in wrestling. Many winners came out on top with Kooper Brandle, Cade Haberman, Ryan Zatechka, and Logan Edwards all outsourcing their opponents. After a slow start to the dual, varsity head coach Micheal Jernigan expressed that the line up is strong and that he can rely on his wrestlers to get the job done.  

“There are certain parts of our lineup that we get to that we know we’re going to be good. We got a couple of streaks there where we started at 145 with Noah Aken and Mikey Myers, Tavian has been wrestling hot right now. Then it leads us into Cannon unfortunately he had an open tonight but that’s the way things shake out,” Jernigan said. “Then all of a sudden you come in with Cole Habermann, and Cade and Zatecka then you have Logan Edwards, holy cow are we tough in certain situations. So it was nice to see the guys wrestle well tonight,”

The start of the Papio-South dual was rough and it looked like it was going in favor of a win for Papillion Lavista South, but Westside cleaned up and got their strength and came out on top. Westside will have to continue that strength as they compete at state in Norfolk in February.

“At this point of the year you want to see the best, iron sharpens iron and we got to be ready to go,” Jernigan said. “Heading up to Norfolk we are going to see some great teams where we know we’re going to dual Norfolk, Columbus, and Bellevue East which are a lot of teams we’ve never beaten in a dual but we have great opportunities to do it. We also will dual someone on the other side so we’re just excited to go up and compete, get four matches, hopefully, get lots of wins, win some duals and continue to be this great dual team.”

Westside wants to bring home the gold at wrestling and beat teams that are tough. They are going to go in with the mindset that they are strong and that they can beat these challenging teams when they face them. They need to not only keep their physical strength but their mental strength as well, as the team approaches important tournaments. Not only are there a lot of upcoming events for men’s wrestling but for women’s wrestling as well. Freshman Reagan Rosseter will be competing in the Nebraska Girls State Tournament this weekend in York, Nebraska. Rosseter will be taking in her mental toughness as well as her physical to get through the weekend and bring home the title. 

“I just have to go out with my confidence knowing I can beat those girls. I just have to go out there knowing I can win. Using more technique over my strength. But I know I can bring it home,” she said. 

Rosseter’s confidence has been an advantage for her in her matches. She looks to always stay positive and believe in herself even when she’s the underdog in matches. Rosseters wants to inspire young girls so that they can know that wrestling isn’t just a male sport.

“I know that there are some girls down in the middle school who are looking up to me knowing that I can bring the state title home,” Rosseter said. “I’m just making history by being the first girl ranked at Westside. I’m trying to bring that state title home but just making history for Westside.”

Watch Regan Rosseter looks to make history for Westside Athletics on Jan. 29 and Jan. 30 at the Nebraska Girls State Wrestling Tournament in York, Nebraska. You can watch here or watch for updates on our Twitter page.