The Palisade Attendance Center will be swarming Sunday when the Wauneta-Palisade Youth Wrestling Program hosts a dual with Dundy County-Stratton starting at 2 p.m. MT/3 p.m. CT.
    This will be the first such event for the club. Organizers are hoping to fit in as many matches as possible during the afternoon.
    In its third year, the WP team has 46 wrestlers ranging from prekindergarteners to eighth graders this season. Team members come from across four school districts and one is homeschooled.
    The group started practices Jan. 6. Meets began Jan. 20.
    Wrestlers have traveled to Omaha, Sutherland, Perkins County, Stapleton and Sidney this season. Team members parents take them to the meets and pay the registration fee.
    Upcoming matches include Feb. 23 at Imperial. That evening will kick off a busy weekend. Other meets that weekend include Hitchcock County on Feb. 24 and at Dundy County-Stratton on Feb. 25.
    The season continues on through March.
    Nicole Wiese said coaches Shad Wiese, Joshua Clark, Owen Madden, Gary Warembourg, Randy Miner, Ryan McCrumb and Mike Christifferson are grateful for the parental support and wanted to thank all the parents for letting their kids participate.
    Clark also leads the WP junior high team and S. Wiese coaches the high school program with Danny Schluckebier.
    N. Wiese added that most of the youth coaches have returned each year, investing “their time, dedication to the program and sharing their knowledge through teaching and loving the sport!”
    “I think the coaches come back each year because they want the program to succeed and see the positivity it has brought to the kids,” N. Wiese said. “We’ve created our own wrestling family and love that our family continues to grow!”
    Clark and S. Wiese envision a bright future for WP wrestling. S. Wiese is optimistic the high school team will grow.
    The 2017-2018 season finished Friday for the Broncos when senior Willis Christner and junior Evan Nordhausen wrestled at districts.
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