The end of a successful sports season for Naperville North brings us to the beginning of a very intriguing chapter: the 2015-2016 wrestling season. The team’s 5th place finish at the DuPage Valley Conference (DVC) and 20-8 record from the prior season has built anticipation for this year’s team, lead by senior captains Jack DiRienzo, Jake Hoffmann, Aaron Kruk, Stevie Schmult and Dalton Weber.

Schmult said he has high expectations for the season because of the many skilled athletes on the team.

“We have seven returning varsity starters and a great group of kids to fill in the holes we are missing,”  Schmult said. “I would expect nothing less than a top three finish in DVC. It’s going to be a fun year.”

Aside from the athletes, the NNHS wrestling program has been built around head coach Thomas Champion, who will enter his 20th year of coaching this season.

Champion said that he has witnessed the sport evolve in his time coaching.

“One thing I’ve found is that over the last few years, wrestling has been very technique-dominated.” Champion said. “Wrestlers who have four or five great moves and know how to use them will be the ones who are successful.”

Champion also said he expects a lot from the team this season, despite the tough competition from schools that are new to the conference this year, such as Glenbard North, Metea Valley and Waubonsie Valley.

“With the amount of seniors and returning varsity guys we have coming back, realistically I would say our goal is to win DVC,” Champion said.

One of these returning varsity members is Kruk. Although he has accomplished a lot on an individual level, such as committing to wrestle at the Division 1 level at Harvard, Kruk is also very focused on the team as a whole.

“One of the most important jobs I have in wrestling, as a senior and a captain, is to help better all those around me,” Kruk said.

Schmult and Kruk hope to lead the squad to a successful year of Huskie wrestling.