Freshman Markell Kimmins had his first season wrestling cut short after a season-ending knee injury occurred on Jan. 20. Kimmins ended his season with a 20-12 record and was slated to qualify for state.
“It was a St. Clair wrestling tournament. I was wrestling this dude from Parkway West. He was about to pin me and my leg got caught in a weird position and it was a little pop,” Kimmins said
Kimmins was on crutches for a week or two, but he’s walking fine now with a little limp. He won’t be cleared until February which means he will be out for the rest of the season ending his chance for Districts and quality for State.
“I’ll be cleared at the end of February and won’t be able to wrestle for Districts and will just be working to be better next season,” Kimmins said
Although it had been hard, Kimmins knew he needed to keep his feelings in check and help his teammates get better and stay focused.
“Markell is a great practice teammate. He will always make sure you’re going your hardest and knows how to control his emotions and keeps his teammate’s emotions in check too,” sophomore Josiah Conley said
Even though Kimmins is out, other wrestlers may qualify for State. The wrestling program has improved a lot this year and has more people than last year. Last year, there were only three wrestlers who lasted the season. This year, the team started with almost twenty athletes. Senior Tyler Jones qualified for State last year and is set to go again this year.
“This year, I feel like we got a very good number of teammates or wrestlers that could go to state this year,” sophomore Daniel Hennings said.
This was Kimmin’s first year wrestling ever in his life. He joined wrestling to try something new.
“I was like I want to try something new and wrestling was the first thing that came to mind, and I just liked it and glad I did it,” Kimmins said.
He’s recovering quickly, but he won’t be able to come back this season due to his injury but he looks to come back next season even better.
“Now that the tables have turned on me, and I can’t qualify for state because of my injury. Now I’m just focused on next season, I am ready to roll and get on my grind,” Kimmins said.
Kimmins is ready to get back in the gym to start training and improving for next year to come back even better than he was this year. Wrestlers train differently depending on what type of weight class they are in, or if they’re trying to cut weight.
“I’ll be training a lot more than I would be in a weight room, but a lot more to build bone and muscle. I’m going harder than I expected,” Kimmins said.
