Last weekend the varsity wrestling team hosted its first match, a Northern California tournament, and started off their season strongly.

The Giants finished in seventh place out of 15 possible teams, while Monta Vista, a team from Cupertino, won the tournament.

Seniors Noah Dorfman and Will Simmonds and junior Nathan Morris were particularly impressive at the tournament, according to head coach Alan Morris.

Additionally, Morris said that seniors Schyler Ruhland and Jack Twomey surprised him with strong performances against difficult competition. In particular, Morris said he was particularly impressed with Twomey, who won his match 6-5 in a hard-fought bout against a wrestler who he was not predicted to beat.

Morris said that the Giants should be favorites in MCAL based off of the returning seniors on the team. However, he also underscored the importance of depth on the team, emphasizing that he needs more people to excel than the six returning seniors in order for the Giants to succeed this season.

“We have a great group of seniors on this team,”Morris said. “But if we want to win MCAL we need good performances from the younger athletes, which is what we got this weekend.”

The Giants did just that, with sophomore Brian Finci and junior Nick Otter exciting Morris with their wrestling.

The team next faces Albany in an away meet on Thursday, Dec. 6.