Shelby Bradley | Sports Co-Editor
With the fall sports wrapping up at Buena Vista University (BVU), it’s time to prep and get ready for the winter sports to roll in. The wrestling team is well into three weeks of practice with their new head coach Jeff Breese. Breese began his coaching career in 2006 at Seton Hill University located in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
“I was drawn to BVU by the great tradition of our program and the tremendous sense of community that the university has. BVU is a top tier academic institution and a place that truly supports its athletic teams. It was not a hard decision for me to come to BVU,” Breese said.
As Breese and his team prepares for this season, there are certain expectations held by him as well as his wrestlers.
“My expectation for the program in the long term is to bring Beaver wrestling back to national prominence. The short-term expectation is to have a group of student-athletes that set high standards for themselves on and off the mat. The wins and losses are all part of a process; however, the focus now is to set a high standard and strive to meet that standard everyday. Once that happens, our program will begin to achieve things that previously didn’t seem possible,” Breese said.
Senior, Seth Shatto also has high expectations for the team this year after finishing 6th in the conference last season.
“The team should be really good this year. We filled in a couple gaps that we had last year as a team. We have some good freshmen that could be a part of our varsity lineup. We are looking to be top four in the conference,” Shatto said.
As with every new coach comes ways of adapting to the style and philosophy of the game. Shatto said it’s always going to take time adapting to a new coach because almost all coaches have a slightly different philosophy on wrestling.
“We all have the same goals, just a different leader,” Shatto said.
The wrestling team will make their debut Saturday, Nov. 15 at the Luther College open beginning at 9 a.m.
Photo courtesy of BVU Athletics
