Trojans grapplers host Cheyenne tonight

The Trojans wrestling team debuts today, hosting league rival Cheyenne. The JV action starts at 5 p.m. and varsity at 6 p.m.

Trojans wrestling coach Craig Rieger wants all the wrestling fans to come out and support his team in their first home match of the season.

“The Pahrump Valley wrestling team is young and have been working hard to learn what the sport is about: hard work, preparation, tough discipline, commitment and sacrifice,” he said. “The dual is an important conference match.”

The Trojans thus far are 2-0 in conference, defeating Sunrise Mountain and Western earlier on Dec. 13.

Rieger believes his team has a good chance of taking the league this year.

“Mojave is still a question,” Rieger said, but he believes that this team graduated all their seniors last year when they took zone and league last year.

Rieger said earlier in the year that the regional champ could be Boulder City, who throttled the Trojans at the Boulder City Duals 70-6.

“They just looked good,” the coach said at the time.

Pahrump wrestling has struggled with the lower weights this year due to the graduation of experienced wrestlers in those classes and grade problems.

This year the program has also suffered from the lack of seniors participating. At the moment, the coach only has one in the lineup, Garrett Monje.

Rieger attributed the toughness of the sport for taking a toll on seniors. He said last month that many seniors feel the sport is too hard, especially the practices, and the athletes just don’t want to dedicate the time.

But for now, the coach has plenty of sophomores and juniors that want to make a difference.

For this upcoming match against Cheyenne, fans can expect a change in the heavyweight classes with the following wrestlers moving down: junior Christian Monje to 182 pounds, junior Jeremy Albertson to 195, sophomore Jacob Landis to 220 and sophomore Zach Trieb is the heavyweight at 285.

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com