Devils Lake Head Coach Brendon Flynn heads into the season with young team
The Devils Lake wrestling team heads into the season with a lot of exciting young potential as the number of wrestlers on the team continue to increase. The team boasts a head count of 45 individuals all looking to compete at a high level. As the Firebirds had an impressive season last year with state wrestling placers they only lost three seniors going into the new season.
Wrestling head coach Brendon Flynn has had the closest view of the team’s recent success in the past couple years and as he heads into the new year, he still has a lot of excitement for the potential this team has stored. “Young guys keep stepping up, they keep impressing me because every day it can be somebody else doing great things.” Flynn said. Young is the main and exciting focus of this team as they don’t have a single senior for the season.
The Firebirds may not have any seniors going into the year but that doesn’t mean they don’t have wrestlers with experience. Flynn has two state placers from last year returning to the lineup in Owen Lindstrom who took second place at 120 lbs. and Tate Estenson who took 6th place at 170 lbs. Also coming back are a handful of wrestlers that had a taste of the state tournament last year with a slew of individuals that can place this year.
Flynn knows going into the season that he is going to have the usual bumps and bruises but he knows he has the group that can learn from everything they go through and to continue their development to have a very competitive team. When Flynn was asked what’s different about this season than the past couple seasons he stated “Everyone is just bought into what the program is about and what the coaches have to offer, they are ready to learn and ask questions.” A motto that he tells his team all the time is “Do something great” and that has been more than words for his team, as they look to showcase it with action.
The HC looks at an exciting and competitive schedule for the year and credits Athletic Director Jason Wiberg for really working with him and getting the right tournaments for the upcoming season. The team looks to get a lot of early matches against western teams. Flynn also stated that the first half of the season is really going to push his team as there will be “A lot of quality matches.”
Devils Lake opens the year against Grand Forks Central High School, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Devils Lake Sports Center in Devils Lake, ND.
Contact Joey Good at jgood.dlj@gmail.com
