The Rampage

Jessica Rish Staff Reporter                 The wrestling season has come to close and the coaches and athletes are receiving recognition for their hard work. The wrestling managers have been left in the shadows.                 “A wrestling manager is a person who helps out with the wrestling team in whatever way possible,” said sophomore Erin Miklus. There are a total of 12 managers that helped with the team this year which is a lot according to Miklus.                 “As wrestling managers we clean the mats, clean up blood, take stats and enter them into the computers, video tape, tag the videos on huddle, get water bottles, we pretty much do anything they ask. We buy the wrestlers stuff sometimes. We basically just get everything ready for the team,”...

Brett Blakemore Sports Editor Going to state tournaments has almost become an annual tradition for many students here. Almost every year, there is talk about 'why isn't this ram-planned?”, and most students miss school anyway. There are many students that truly care about the tournament and the games or matches, but are there some students that just use it to get out of school? It's one thing to have school spirit and want to be there, and even when people don't know what's going on, the student section can be reason alone to attend. However with any system, there will be people trying to cheat it. This past weekend many students attended the state wrestling tournament, where the Rams won another pair of State Championships. "You could tell a lot of people cared about it," senior Grant Morse said. "Both the students and the fans were really into it the whole way." But the question still is do people abuse this event for themselves? Do ...

Ellen Bombela News Editor                  The state wrestling tournament began on Wednesday, and as expected, the Southeast Polk wrestling team dominated the team duals. With the great success of the team this season, it is no surprise that students would call in to school and miss a day of school to go to Wells Fargo Arena to watch the tournament. Between the coaches, wrestlers, and fans, the halls and classrooms have felt a little empty.                 Although there is no school on Friday due to a teacher in-service day, students who are attending the tournament are missing two days of school, which are not Ram planned. While students are having a good time at the tournament, they are still missing classes that could have important things going on in them. While wrestling fans might think that missing the classes is worth it, some others have different opi...

Kaelee Keesee Managing Editor             The Wrestling Rams have gone undefeated so far this season with no one even coming close to touching them on their path to their next state title, as expected. Even with a number of minor injuries and senior Briar Dittmer out for an extended period with a shoulder injury, the Rams have slid through each tournament and each dual meet with ease.             Now, with the state tournament looming closer and closer, the boys are looking better than they have all season. With the leads becoming more and more exponential as the weeks go on, they plan on taking the same approach in their dual meet against Waukee tonight.             “The goal is to win in a dominant fashion,” said junior Ethan Andersen, who is currently ranked first in the state and sixth at the national level. Andersen has handled this se...

Kaelee Keesee Managing Editor Senior Aaron Meyer takes down his opponent. Photo courtesy of Aaron Meyer. Total domination. Those are the words everyone is using to describe the Southeast Polk wrestling season.  There are nine returning state medalists on the current varsity line-up, including sophomore Zach Barnes, seniors Mason Kerr and Deion Mikesell, bronze medalists  seniors Nolan Hellickson and Keegan Shaw, runners-up seniors Briar Dittmer, Aaron Meyer and Jake “Turbo” Marnin, and state champion at 220-pounds, junior Ethan Andersen.  Completing the line-up are state qualifier senior Brady Buchheit, returning varsity member junior Kameron Padavich who finished his season with a bronze medal at districts and two newbies with impressive records of their own, freshmen Gauge Perrien and Nathan Lendt. “The battle at 106 lbs. between Gauge Perrien and Adam Brown is also probably the battle for the #1 ranking in the state,” said coach Jessman Smith...