Horns wrestling prepared for year two

By Lethbridge Herald on October 16, 2024.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns wrestling program is hitting the mat for their second season in Canada West this weekend with the goal of improving and building on what’s already in place.

“What we were focusing on is the percentages of those matches that we won and then trying  to learn how to grow that percentage so that we can overcome that 50 per cent barrier and come out on top of that 1v1 match ,” said Shawn Daye-Finley, Horns wrestling head coach.

“This year we’re focusing on narrowing the  opportunities that we give our opponents to score on us and opening up the opportunities that we were successful in the year before.”

Daye-Finley has the expectation of the second-year wrestlers to become leaders for the first years.

“So (in) our first year, everybody was a first-year student and there’s wasn’t a big brother in the house to help hold them accountable,” he said.

“But now they do have those second-year students that can start to act as leaders in the group to lead those first-year athletes through the growing pains of your first year at university.”

The Horns’ strength will come within a strong administration.

“Our organizational structure and the framework  that they set out from the ground up is probably our biggest asset,” said Daye-Finley.

“I  think  that the other major attribute when speaking of performance would be our ability here in Lethbridge to cross-pollinate between sports and programs.”

He agreed that the program is going to get stronger in the second year.

“I think we’ll be twice as good (and) given twice as much time to train,” said Daye-Finley.

An increase medal total is in the books this season.

“I think  that there’s going to be a lot of medals coming our way in the not-too-distant future,” said Daye-Finley.

“Again, we’re focusing on winning moments, and winning situations and  matches and  the results will follow.”

Horns wrestling open up the season at the University of Calgary on Saturday.

U of L hosts the Pronghorn Duals on Jan. 25, 2025.