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4… 5… 6… “PIN!” The Lincoln High wrestlers heard this type of thing many times as they pinned down and scored against many teams all across the Midwest at the Raytown, Missouri invitational on the weekend of December 16. The Links got 3rd out of 30 teams, something that they hadn’t done in 5 years.

Nine LHS wrestlers placed in the top six:

6th place: Korbin Arnold (9), Camden Trevarrow (10), Garrett Hoagland (11), and Drake Krough (11)

5th place: Pla Plot Soe (10)

3rd place: Marcel Austin (11)

2nd place: Quinn Thew (9)

1st place: Isaiah Alford (11)

The Links have plenty of returning starters from last year’s season, including Isaiah Alford, Jackson Okereke, Camden Trevarrow, Garrett Hoagland and many others. This type of depth and experience really benefits the team, given that quite a few of the wrestlers are underclassmen.

Isaiah Alford is entering his Junior season of wrestling, and he has the type of experience that a young team needs, bringing a proven starter mentality and a returning state wrestler. He knows what has to be done to be on the top level of the wrestling circuit, and sees the progress in his Lincoln High team.

“As a team we have progressed greatly,” Alford said. “We have grown so much even though it’s early. I’m excited to see how we progress throughout the year, we are young and I’m just ready to see how we improve.”

Sophomore wrestler and returning starter Camden Trevarrow agrees, and knows the work never stops in order to reach your goals.

“So far we’ve improved a lot as a team,” Trevarrow said. “And the guys that don’t have as much experience have gotten some matches in, but we’re still improving and we need to keep working to achieve our goals.”

Although there’s still room to improve, the Links are steadily climbing up the ranks, and becoming more of a force that people are going to notice down the stretch of the season, and are already noticing. Alford knows that they can’t get to complacent with their thinking, but knows that if the team continues to work hard good things will come.

“We expect everyone to give 110% every match, and no matter what don’t quit,” Alford said. “We can’t get down on ourselves if we aren’t winning early in the year. We have to stay focused and keep working hard. It’s not about how we start, it’s about how we finish.”

The Raytown Invitational brought great excitement to the wrestlers as well as it gave them a little taste of what the Links can aspire to become as the season transpires. It was especially exciting for Alford.

“This win felt great because it was my first tournament and it was a good one,” Alford said. “I see my hard work paying off and I’m just ready to keep working.”

Coming up, the Links have a Varsity Wrestling Triangular with Omaha Bryan and Lincoln Southwest High School, and another Invitational at Lincoln North Star High School. Be sure to keep an eye on this team, their expectations are high for the rest of the season after this invitational, but their mindset has always been the same. They expect to keep getting better and to keep improving, and with this group, you can expect to see that happen in the very near future.