The pieces are in place, the motivation is already established, and now the Aberdeen Central girls’ wrestling team is ready to hit the mat and make things happen.

The Golden Eagles, who finished seventh as a team at the state tournament last season, bring back every member from last year’s squad, including five state place winners.

“I got my five returning state place winners and then I got some other girls that were state qualifiers and they’re returning as well. I didn’t lose a single varsity starter,” said Central coach Jake Flakus. “I’m getting all my girls back from last year and then I’m adding a few to the mix. And they added two weight classes this year, so we got even more girls that will see varsity time.”

The seventh-place team finish last season was one short of making the podium at state. Needless to say, that will serve as major motivation this winter.

“The top six get on the podium, so we were just short last year,” Flakus said. “It’s kind of the standard goal that we want to have. We want to be one of those top six teams that gets recognized.”

Madison Little, Jasmin Maas, Rakyrah Wallace, Lin Paw Jone, and Lilly Nelson all claimed individual places at state and will be joined by others who just missed earning a place.

“They’re a solid crew. They were all state placers last year,” Flakus said, “and there’s even some other girls that were just really close on the cusp, like Avery Bendewald, Allison Neitzel, Grace Reszler; they were within that range last year, but just couldn’t quite finish it, so they’ll be back, too.”

As a result, Central will have a veteran team that doesn’t have to start at ground zero.

“It’s definitely nice to be able to not to have to start at square one. We can start at square three,” Flakus said. “They understand some of the basics, but there’s still a lot that they are willing to learn, so yeah, I’ve got a good crew this year.”

Flakus said a key for the wrestlers this season will be staying positive when things don’t go as planned.

“I think the biggest thing with this group is if they can overcome adversity. They’re tough, they’re willing to go out and try stuff even if it doesn’t work,” Flakus said. “I think the big thing between us getting seventh again or us being a top six finish will be what will they do when adversity comes their way, whether it’s an injury or a setback or if they’re just having a bad day, how do you overcome that on the mat?”

While moving up one spot on the podium will be on the mind of the wrestlers, Flakus doesn’t want that to consume the team, either. He knows what happened last year is in the past.

“I think you’ve got to find a balance of reminding them how close we were last year, but also knowing that last year is last year,” Flakus said, “and that we have a brand new opportunity this year.”

To be sure, the Central girls continue to get better each year as they add to their wrestling knowledge. Flakus wants the wrestlers to find out what works best for them on the mat, and then take their shots.

“With wrestling it’s all about experience, especially some of those new girls or young girls, they don’t know what’s going to work until they get out and try it,” Flakus said. “So, I think the big thing would be getting girls to not be timid when they wrestle, but to open up and just be on the offensive. If you can get them to go out and try stuff, they’re pretty soon going to figure out what works and what doesn’t work.”

Central opens its season on Friday at a tournament in Watertown.

Flakus said after two weeks of practicing against each other the Golden Eagles are ready to face different competition.

“They’re definitely excited to get out there and compete this Friday in Watertown,” he said.