The EWU wrestling club had eight competitions on their schedule last season and this season, the Eagles are looking forward to staying active and competing.

The wrestling club is part of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association and are currently competing in the Northwest conference. According to their website, the club’s goal is to upgrade from Division II to Division I in the NCWA.

The club’s participation in events does not quite match the number of events they competed in last season. “At the [Cheney] Middle School, we held a tournament for the conference,” club president Carrigan said. “We overall had like seven of the nine schools in the conference come over.” About 55 wrestlers competed from various schools such as Evergreen State College and the University of Montana-Western.

The club competed during the same weekend as the Spokane Open. “We [scheduled it] that Saturday so that everyone that was coming over already for the Spokane Open [to compete] could just come a day early to give everybody an extra match,” Carrigan said.

Six club members competed in the tournament with freshman Michael Parkman winning one match. According to Carrigan, most of the club members are new this season.

Club Vice President Mason Macfarlane, Joe Cordes, Gabriel Alejandro and Carrigan are all returning members. Macfarlane is unable to compete this year because of his master’s program. Carrigan will also not be competing this season.

The club has a state tournament on Feb. 16 at Washington State University and regionals on March 1 at Central Washington University. If the wrestling club wins at regionals, they will travel to nationals in Texas. “We’ve got a tournament in a week from now. That’ll be the next big competition,” Parkman said.

This season the wrestling club is practicing on Tuesdays and Fridays from 5-7 p.m., according to Carrigan, with optional Sunday practices. At the beginning of the season, practices incorporated conditioning for two to three weeks.

During practice, stretching, warm ups, and drills are done, followed by live wrestling. The club also does an exercise called ironman. This is where one wrestler stays in the middle of the mat and that person will have to wrestle with multiple people one by one. This activity helps improve the wrestlers’ skills on the mat as well as conditioning.

“As a club, we’re only allowed to get two official practices in that room [at Reese Court] every week,” Carrigan said. “So we encourage wrestlers to go out and train elsewhere. There’s a lot you can do to prepare yourself.”

Carrigan states that wrestlers will often go exercise at the URC, run or play other sports. “For a while I went out and I did judo and jujitsu,” Carrigan said. This helps him stay in shape for wrestling.

During practices, the wrestlers take time to work on individual skills. “I’ve been working a lot on my feet,” Parkman said. “I’ve got a couple of takedowns that I’d like to hit, but I need to broaden my choices.”

As a member of the club, Parkman appreciates the fact that it keeps all of the wrestlers busy. “Outside of just giving me something to do and helping stay in shape, it’s a way to make friends I guess,” Parkman said. “It’s easy to bond with the other guys that you’re out there working hard with.”