Despite the loss of senior Jake Bracken ’14, the wrestling squad anticipates success from its younger athletes.

The team closed last season 1-3 in league play, an improvement over the previous year’s 0-4 record.

Bracken and Jake Adler ’17 were the only Harvard-Westlake wrestlers to continue on to compete in CIF after taking first and second in their weight classes at Mission League Finals. In the early rounds of CIF, Bracken came in third in the 132 pounds weight class, and Adler took fourth in the 126 pounds weight class. Both of their seasons came to an end at the Southern Section Masters Meet last year.

“I feel like now I’m a little more mature, and I won’t lose matches because someone was stronger than me or tougher,” Adler said.

Alex Lennon ’17, Josh Musicant ’17 and Russell Davis ’17 hold promise as the season approaches.

“I’m really looking forward to watching Alex Lennon who didn’t get to wrestle last year,” Adler said. “He could be the toughest kid on the team because when he gets out on the mat, he really fights for the win.”

The team will start their season with the Newbury Park invitational Dec. 6 at Newbury Park High School.

“The team just needs to keep improving,” Adler said. “We have a really small team this year because we lost a lot of guys, but we have some good individuals that should do well.”