As fans, coaches and athletes are reflecting back on the recently completed winter sports season, one program celebrating success is the Pella High wrestling team.

Individually, Keegan Poole set the school’s season record for wins with 40, Ashton Messer set the career record for pins with 79 and both Messer and Ethan Speltz crossed the 100 victory mark for their careers.

As a team, Coach Joe Burch says that the highlight was a team tournament title at Montezuma, the first in his nine year tenure at the helm.

“Finishing a long day of wrestling towards the top was really neat because you know that it wasn’t just one or two individuals, it was the whole team that contributed to that team score. That was really neat.”

The Little Dutch nearly won a second tournament this season, finishing as runner-up in a 14-team field at PCM.

Burch also referenced their match against Oskaloosa as a highlight of the season. That took place at Central’s P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium on the same night that the Dutch squared off against Luther.

Burch announced his resignation following the season, but says that he’s excited about the direction that the program is headed and looking forward to a new coach to keep the momentum going.