Head Coach Danny Song is once again at the helm of the Case Western Reserve University wrestling team, and the Spartans look to improve upon the progress of last year.

According to Song, the team’s goal is to pick up where they left off at season’s end.

The Spartans return nine wrestlers from a year ago, including three Academic All-Americans: fourth-year wrestler Gavin Dersh-Fisher and third-year brothers Alec and Andrew Hoover. In addition, Song successfully recruited 13 first-year wrestlers to add to the team’s depth.

“We have a killer level of competition in our wrestling room,” Song said. He has been looking to build depth at each position since taking the head coaching position four years ago. He believes competition in every weight class will improve the abilities of every wrestler, which will in turn help the team as a whole. A few first-year wrestlers will also have solid chances to start in some weight classes.

The Spartans began their 2018-19 campaign Nov. 11 at the 2018 Ohio Intercollegiate Open hosted by the team. The tournament featured roughly 350 wrestlers from 21 schools, the majority of those at the Division I or II level. The CWRU team featured eight wrestlers, five of them placing in the top eight of their weight class.

Third-year wrestler Jacob Frisch finished fourth in the 133 weight class, defeating wrestlers from Michigan State University and Central Michigan University. Alec Hoover, also in the 133 weight class, finished in fifth. Fourth-year wrestler Brian McNamara placed fourth as well in the 285 weight class. The final two wrestlers to place were third-year wrestlers Isaac Collier in fifth at 165 and Andrew Hoover in eighth at 141.

The Spartan wrestlers will compete again this weekend on Nov. 17 at the Baldwin Wallace University Invitational.