The sight of two human pretzels on a mat alone, will pretty much cover all the entertainment when watching a wrestling meet. After the sound of 1…2…3… a whistle is blown and “that’s a pin for a Cannon Falls wrestler,” gaining six more points towards a team victory. By bagging an individual victory, a wrestler can help the team by picking up points, pushing the team closer to an overall win. Wrestling is an individual sport, but just as much of a team sport as any other. The Cannon Falls Bombers were able to fill a team this year, meaning they have a person wrestling at every weight class with no classes left open. The boys are off to a strong start. They have competed in 12 events thus far and have a team record of 10-6. The boys are definitely out for blood as they fight for their own victories, hoping to lift the team to overall victories in the process. 

The captains of the team this season are seniors, Cooper Peterson, Sam Ludden, and Levi Anderson. Peterson explains that as the season is beginning to wind down, they have just five more regular season events, followed by team sections and after that, individual sections. While the year continues to edge closer to its end, the team is going to work to improve so they peak when it matters most: at the section tournament. Peterson was introduced to wrestling in kindergarten and has done nothing but succeed ever since. This year he met a major milestone by attaining his 100th career win on varsity. Peterson states, “I’m looking forward to wrestling a few more duals with the team and, hopefully, we can get a few more wins as a team.” Along with his victories, he has had the opportunity to wrestle with his younger brother, Gavin, and is excited to wrestle on the same team as his brother a little while longer. Gavin is a freshman this year and he is wrestling varsity. He is a good, young element to the team which is providing a glimpse into  the future of the program. The young Peterson is definitely going to get better in the years to come and is going to follow in his older brother’s footsteps. 

Senior, Ryan Linde, has been wrestling for a decade. He is now wrestling his fifth and final season as part of the Cannon Falls varsity team and is a force to be reckoned with. He is sitting at his personal best varsity record of 17-2 and is going to do nothing but work to keep improving as the season plays out. Linde is doing everything possible to benefit the Bombers and is most looking forward to his individual sections. Following that, he’s extremely hopeful to finish strong and possibly make it to the state competition along with Peterson. The team is relatively young this season with just five seniors, while the rest of the team is made up of primarily sophomores  and freshman. This is a good thing for the team because these young wrestlers will have the opportunity to learn from some extremely talented wrestlers this season. 

After this season finishes, the younger wrestlers will continue to improve in the coming seasons. As they gain experience, they’ll keep the Bombers competitive for the foreseeable future and will then pass their own skills on to the next generation of young wrestlers. As Peterson would say: “The future of Bomber wrestling is bright.”