Nov. 12, 2014 By Christopher Clapper

The No. 1-ranked UW-Whitewater wrestling team is ready for the season to get under way following a second-place finish in last year’s NCAA tournament.

First year head coach Ned Shuck is pleased with his team so far this preseason, but he said he  knows the preseason accolades do not mean anything come March if you do not put in the work at the beginning of the season.

“I’ve been impressed with the team,” Shuck said. “They’ve come in with good attitudes, they’re working hard, and they’re doing a good job in terms of putting forth a ton of effort in practices.”

The ’Hawks have five returning wrestlers from last year’s team who are ranked in the top 10, including:

• No. 1 at 197 lbs. junior Shane Seifert who was a national runner-up a year ago

•  No. 2 at 141 lbs. junior Matt Adcock who was a national runner-up a year ago

• No. 2 at 149 lbs. senior Elroy Perkin

• No. 10 at 184 lbs. senior Ryan Aprahamian

• No. 6 at heavyweight senior Anthony Edgren

After their third straight WIAC conference title last year, Edgren said the ’Hawks are confident they can go toe-to-toe with any team in the country and   dominate.

“We want to go 10-for-10, win all 10 weight classes, and shut out every one of our dual meets, so that’s our goal,” Edgren said.

The team put in the work this offseason to help build on the strong finish to last season. But Edgren said  not everyone treats the offseason the same way.

Many of the athletes did lots of offseason wrestling and conditioning, but some need to do less wrestling and more weight lifting to get stronger and become better wrestlers, Edgren said.

Another X factor this year will be the relationship of the wrestlers and their new head coach. It’s not often a team finishes second in the national tournament and has a new leader the next year, but such is the case this year.

Edgren said this team has high expectations for itself and those expectations are the same for the head coach.

“Our expectation of Coach Shuck is for him to be a great coach, and so far he’s proven that to me,” Edgren said. “He’s a great guy, great leader, and he’s got the same goal that we do: a national title.”

With a new head coach came a new assistant coach to the wrestling program as well.

Mike Kelly joins the ’Hawks after 20 years of experience workig at the youth, high school and college levels, most recently with UW-Parkside last season.

The ’Hawks don’t shy away from the goal of winning a national championship, and Edgren said they believe they are ready for the spotlight.

The team is ready to shoulder the responsibility of a No. 1 ranking and prove they   deserve it, Shuck said.

“We’re ready and the guys are motivated, so I’m excited about this season,” Shuck said. “We’ve never won a national title before, so I think it’s time to break that ground.”