SARATOGA SPRINGS — Kris West, varsity wrestling coach at Saratoga Spring High School, is starting his tenth season out strong. A former Blue Streak wrestler and 1994 grad himself, West is no novice to the Saratoga Springs wrestling history.
"I’ve got five guys who placed in the top four of sectionals who are returning for this year. We have Eric Griskowitz, a Section II runner up; Griffin Viviano, who was third in Section II last year; Devin Crowe was fourth in Section II; Brant Roinson, third in Section II; and Doug Cooper was fourth in Section II,” West said.
The varsity team this year is all ninth through twelfth grade, but team star Eric Griskowitz has been wrestling on varsity since the seventh grade.
"Eric’s been on our varsity team since the seventh grade, so he obviously has been around, he's a junior now. He's placed at sectionals three times, he's been in the finals twice. All those other guys I mentioned, they placed in sectionals for the first-time last year,” he said.
West believes that overall, the team is in good shape for the second half of the season.
"We always try and have them peak at the end of the season. Everything that we do now is just really working towards the end of the year and trying to get guys to place as high as they can in the sectionals tournament,” he explained.
To catch a match, check out the Sports at a Glance page for dates and times.