Friday the Varsity Wrestling team left for Kansas City to take the mat at the Winnetonka Tournament. Teams such as Ozark, Rockhurst, Blue Springs, Eureka, Liberty, North Kansas City, Park Hill, Park Hill South, Oak Park, Ray-Pec, Seckman, St.Joseph Central, Troy and the host team, Winnetonka will be vying to call themselves number one. The Spartans have been preparing for this tournament for weeks now.

“It’s going to be a tough tournament, we’ve been improving on our weaknesses,” said senior Mike Taylor.

Despite the challenge this tournament is bound to bring, Taylor is expecting a decent outcome.

“I think we’ll have a couple medalists, maybe even a champion,” said Taylor.

The tournament this weekend has many great match-ups and holds great opportunity for a few individuals on the team to go up in state rankings; for example, at 106 lbs the Spartans have sophomore Jacob Gajewski who is currently ranked 8th in Missouri, hoping to come out victorious against Weston Basler from Seckman (5th), JJ Dorrell form Ozark (3rd), and Ke-Shawn Hayes from Park Hill (1st).

“I know Ke-Shawn is going to be there, but I am expecting to win,” said Gajewski.

Following this tournament, next Wednesday the Spartans will take on the Trojans from Troy and as a consolation to the expected outcome of this weekend’s tournament. Taylor is expecting a win for the Spartans.

“We should win on Wednesday; we generally beat Troy,” said Taylor.

Follow @FHCtodaylive for daily updates on the Spartans’ stats for the tournament this weekend.