Slamming the new wrestling season

Boys and coach have high hopes for the upcoming wrestling season

Connor Fitzimmons and Daniel Loomis • December 19, 2023

Junior Chris Conant wins a duel match against Springport.

As wrestling starts back up again, students are excited to come back. One change to this year’s season is that there’s a new coach for all of the students of Stockbridge to look up to. A few wrestlers enjoy that wrestling is starting up again and have been impacted a huge amount by this sport.

“My life has changed incomprehensibly and made me feel like someone in the community and I’m quite confident that I’ll do okay this year,” junior Brandon Lopez said. “My biggest problem getting back into wrestling was having low stamina. Getting back into wrestling was also like doing it all over again due to forgetting a number of the moves I could pull on my opponent.”

While some students feel a sense of community now that wrestling is back, others feel more impacted by the feeling of community the coaches give them.

“Wrestling adversely impacted my life because it just pushes me to do things that I really wouldn’t have before,” junior Chris Conant said. “The coach also listens to the students and loves helping them learn about the sport and driving them to do what they want.”

The wrestling team’s new coach Jacob Adams loves teaching his students and has made it his desire to help elevate the team to new levels for the future.

“I got into wrestling because of my kinfolk that attended Stockbridge along with my fellow wrestling coach and cousin, ” Adams said. “I came to Stockbridge from Pinckney as a coach in part because it’s technically my home. We don’t have any explicit goals but the way we train, conduct ourselves and represent our town’s name is more of a goal to us; it’s a way of living.”

About the Contributors

Connor Fitzimmons, Reporter

Connor Fitzsimmons joined the Uncaged team this year. Fitzsimmons has played baseball all four years of high school. He enjoys watching any football game no matter what. He has also been accepted into St. Petersburg community college for journalism. Fitzsimmons also enjoys video games like Madden and 2k. Not only does he watch football, he also watches baseball games too. He has been to 3 out of 29 football stadiums, and 2 of 30 baseball stadiums. He also has a love for music and listens to country and rap mainly. His favorite artists are Zach Bryan, Morgan Wallen, Bigxthaplug, ThatmexicanOT, and Lil Tjay.

Daniel Loomis, Reporter

Daniel Loomis is one of the newest to the family, standing at 190 cm tall and proud. He is also a new NHS member and has been a huge supporter in the sidelines of the community. Daniel has plans to get a job over the summer that pays a hefty amount for a solid 40 hours a week while also enjoying his free time. Daniel’s hobbies include gaming, running/jogging and watching anime in his spare time. He also owns a cat that has been something important to him.

Grace Burg, Reporter

Grace Burg is a senior in Stockbridge high school. This is her second year being a part of the Uncaged family. She enjoys working, hanging out with friends, and playing volleyball during her free time.

Melanie Satowiak, Reporter

Beginning her short-lived career as a journalist, Melanie Satkowiak joined Uncaged Student News as a senior this year. Melanie is on-staff as a reporter and when she’s not consumed by her job, schoolwork, and family responsibilities, she enjoys living her life to its fullest potential. Melanie loves to travel, get high on adrenaline, and surround herself with wonderful people. She prefers delving into other worlds in the pages of books and serenading her ears with the angelic voices of her favorite artists rather than contemplating the meaning of life. Melanie is a recent inductee to NHS and is the Student Representative on the Stockbridge School Board. She loves being involved in her community and can’t wait to talk the ears off of the people she’ll meet after high school.

Macy Cipta, Editor In Chief

Macy Cipta joined Uncaged halfway through her sophomore year and has been promoted to Editor-in-Chief her senior year. She is very inspired to become a teacher since she loves leading and encouraging her peers. When Cipta is outside of school she is usually either working at Choice Farm Market or spending time with her friends. Her social life is very important to her and she believes that you become who you surround yourself with, so she surrounds herself with good human beings. She is a very determined young woman.

Olyvia Hoard, Social Media Manager

Social Media Manager Olyvia Hoard, a senior, joined Uncaged during her freshman year. She enjoys photography, cheerleading, reading, and writing. She is a painter, and loves her dogs more than anything else.

Joey Ballagh, Reporter

Standing at 1.8288 meters tall; Joey Runs his days on Faith and dry cereal. Joey is a reporter and the Sports editor, and this is his second year in the class. Joey is a part of NHS, NTHS, NSHSS, and FCA. Joey Plans on attending a college to earn a business degree while playing basketball. In his spare time, he enjoys taking pictures of animals and playing sports.

Collin Trost, Reporter

Standing at 5’11, junior Collin Trost can’t wait to dip from school. Collin enjoys playing sports. In the past he has wrestled and played football, but this year, he decided to play soccer, and is most looking forward to his favorite sport season - baseball. Outside of school, Collin enjoys hanging out with friends, watching his favorite sport's team, the Detroit Lions, and his favorite TV shows - All American, Shameless, and Outerbanks. Collin looks forward to graduating, so he doesn't have to be controlled by adults he dislikes.

Taiyler Stanfield, Editor In Chief

Taiyler Stanfield joined Uncaged halfway through her junior year and is an Editor-in-Chief this year. When she’s not yelling at students to do their work or editing articles for hours at a time, she enjoys spending quality time with her family. After graduating, Taiyler plans to quit her full-time job Tokyo-drifting on the way to school to attend Eastern Michigan University, where she will pursue a degree in Young Adult Literature to become an editor for a publishing company. If all hope is lost, Taiyler will instead pursue screenwriting in hopes that one day she will make the big bucks and win an Oscar for the blood, sweat, and tears she shed. You will occasionally hear Taiyler desiring to have at least five cats, as she is dangerously obsessed with them. Because of this obsession, it is with 100% certainty that she will become the neighborhood's crazy cat lady.

Maggie Jones, Reporter

This is Maggie’s first year joining the UNCAGED family. Maggie is the President of the National Honor Society and the co-captain of her volleyball team. After high school, Maggie plans on attending either Central Michigan University or Saginaw Valley University to pursue a Master’s degree in either Dietetics or Occupational Therapy. In her free time, Maggie enjoys reading, hiking, babysitting her two angels, working at the library, and spending time with her family.

Sydney Walker, Reporter

Sydney Walker joined Uncaged this year as a sophomore. She plans to continue to be a part of the Uncaged team for the rest of her highschool career. When she is not being suffocated by school work, Sydney loves writing and expressing her soul on paper. She also enjoys reading, listening to music, watching movies/shows, spending time in the vast wonders of nature, and spending everlasting quality time with her beautiful dog. Sydney is still quite unsure what she wants to do after highschool, but she knows she will inevitably write at least one book. Lastly, Sydney is a ginger, and all those myths about redheads are true…

Sami Wilson, Reporter

Sami Wilson writes as a staff reporter for Uncaged. This year is her first year being in Uncaged. Due to Sami’s interest in animals, she plans to pursue a career in animal conservation, getting a degree after graduation. She enjoys drawing and painting, as it comforts her. Sami has two cats at home, one named Beans and the other named Tobey. In her spare time, she loves to watch TV and play with her cats. Her favorite show currently is “It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.” She enjoys listening to metal and her favorite artist is the Insane Clown Posse.