SALEM, Ore.—  Everything is falling into place for the McKay Wrestling Team following their fifth-place finish in the Herrin Holiday Classic this past weekend.

Combine a full effort and motivation from the loss to West Albany last Thursday with what they are learning, it is all beginning to click for the Royal Scots Grapplers

“They started to realize that we’re picking up and using the techniques that we learned,” said McKay Head Coach Troy Thomas.  “We’re not bringing in things we learned in middle school or the head and arm machines that people are still using.

“Now we’re using real techniques and developing a game plan.  What are you going to do on your feet, what are you going to do in top referees’ position?  What are you going to do on the ground?

One thing they can improve on heading into their league match against Sprague Thursday and the Thurston tournament this weekend, is making sure people show up and make weight said Thomas.

“We can’t have people missing weight and we can’t have people not showing up either,” said Thomas.  “That’s been the biggest thing is getting kids to not just to come to every practice but also coming to the meets and making weight for those.

“We did have a few people who did not make weight on Saturday and Thursday when we wrestled West Albany.

For this week’s league battle with the Olympians however, it’s a sense of revenge in the mat room after a significant loss to Sprague last year.

“The expectations for Sprague is going out there is to compete, they blanked us last year,” said Thomas.  “We can’t let that happen again, we got to get after them.”

As for the weekend as a whole as well, is to stay as healthy and get as many matches in as possible.

“Then Thursday, we need to stay healthy and wrestle as many matches as possible because these kids aren’t used to wrestling three, four  matches in a day,” said Thomas.  “So when it does happen, their bodies are kind of shocked their systems.”

The Sprague Dual is set for 6pm at McKay High School and the Thurston Duals will be held at Thurston High School starting at 9am.

PHOTOS OF PRACTICE (PICTURES BY JEREMY MCDONALD)

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon with B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism (2011) and Health/PE (2013).  Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81!

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