The Woodbury wrestling team traveled to Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, for the Luther Wrestling Team Camp. The Royals left on Wednesday, July 10, and came home on Saturday, July 13.
The team brought down 24 wrestlers from grades 7-12 along with three coaches from the staff. It was the largest amount of wrestlers for Woodbury to go down to Luther College and the team was split into two teams.
They thought it would be a good idea because of the opportunity for all of the boys to get more quality matches throughout the camp. If the Royals stayed together, there wouldn't be as many opportunities to wrestle and improve themselves for the upcoming season.
The teams get 10 dual meets each, take part in five different team building activities, take part in an individual tournament on the last morning of camp and go through three technique sessions led by Division I collegiate All-Americans. There were over 300 wrestlers down there this year with 24 teams competing from four different states including: Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and South Dakota.
The Woodbury White Team had a little bit more experience in their line-up and ended up sixth in the field, while Woodbury Blue ended up in 11th place out of the 24 teams. Each day there are wrestlers of the day selected from each team and those honors included seniors Mason Barrows and Tre Hockenberger from the White Team as well as freshman Jack Anderson and senior Dave Hawley for the Blue Team.
Eighth-grader Alex Braun and senior Tre Hockenberger went undefeated. Woodbury also picked up five individual titles.
Each wrestler that went won at least one match in the individual tournament.
"The boys learn more about each other and create bonds that help build a solid foundation for the upcoming season," said Woodbury head wrestling coach Justin Smith. "Hopefully it ends up propelling them for an opportunity to compete at a higher level because they know that if you care for who you are fighting for, and with, then some great things can happen."
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