In the coldest months of the year, Northtown’s wrestling team has been dedicating themselves to the sport.

The team, lead by senior Kole Hanna, has been practicing to become a better team.At the Joe Crouthers tournament, hosted at NKCHS, the team placed third overall.On the last day of the tournament, Jan. 7, senior Courtney Zimmerman was crowned as the Wrestling Invitational Princess.

“It was an exciting moment,” Zimmerman said.

This has been a tradition since the 1960s. Zimmerman has been a wrestling manager for four years and dedicates her time to taking stats, filming, and doing anything else to help the team.

“My friend asked me to do it with her freshmen year,” Zimmerman said. “It’s a fun sport to get involved in. Not many people understand wrestling, and don’t think its a hard sport, but our boys work very hard, and I’m glad I’ve stuck with it all four years.”

The wrestlers still have some more meets left in their season, including Districts on Feb. 10.

Coach Walker said, “The team is young this year and we’re not winning as much as we’d like, but the wins will come as long as they stick with it.”

The team has a lot of freshmen who are having to take on varsity roles.Blake Howerton is a freshman in a tough 113lb weight class.

He said, “I’m in a lightweight class, so it would seem I would go against other freshmen but that’s not the case. I have to go against seniors.”

But Howerton is not too worried about it this year.

“I’m still getting a hold on things and getting to know my coaches,” he said.

His personal goals this year include lettering as a freshmen, qualifying for state, and “to get bigger, better, and stronger.”

Senior Skylar Austin placed fourth in the Crouthers tournament and Coach Walker thinks that both he and Hanna have a good shot at making state.