Elder wrestling is off to a great start under first year head coach, Jason Roush.

Elder opened up the season by winning the 9th Annual Elder Duals. The Panthers took down Winton Woods, Sycamore, Beavercreek, and Kettering Fairmont en route to a championship.

The Panthers followed up an impressive performance at the Duals by defeating archrival Oak Hills at Oak Hills. They were victorious by a final score of 44 to 23.

The first true test for the Elder wrestling team came in the form of the Glenn Sample Coach’s Classic (SWOWCA) Tournament. The Panthers had a solid performance, finishing 9th out of 41 teams. Elder had five place winners in the tournament in Evan Morgan (2nd), Jacob Conners (5th), Mark Adams and Gage Brock (6th), and Robby Oswald (7th).

Next, Elder traveled up to Brecksville, OH for the Brecksville Holiday Tournament, the toughest tournament on the Panthers’ schedule. The Panthers had some early success in the tournament followed by some second day struggles. They finished 30th out of 47 teams. The constant feel throughout the Panthers team is that they underperformed in the tournament and will bounce back strong at the Lakota West Duals, their next big competition.

Elder suffered their first dual loss of the season against the Harrison Wildcats by a score of 32 to 25. Elder was not at full strength but it is still a disappointing loss. Elder didn’t wrestle as well as they would have liked and look to rebound when they resume their dual meet season against the Moeller Crusaders on January 10th. Elder lost to Moeller by a score of 45 to 6 last season at Moeller. This year the dual will take place at Elder as Elder looks to regain momentum against the Crusaders, who are ranked 2nd in the state, before heading to the Lakota West Dual Tournament on January 11th.

Looking ahead the Panthers have big tests in dual meets against Fairfield and St. Xavier, the Catholic Invitational Tournament at Cleveland State University, and the Ohio Division One State Duals before beginning postseason wrestling.

You can keep up with the Panthers at http://www.ehsports.com/schedule.aspx?sportselect=Wrestling and on the team twitter page @Elderwrestling.