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Alconbury's Vivian Newcomer wins her match against Kaiserslautern's Vincent Cissna with a pin during a high school wrestling meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Newcomer won two of her three matches.

Alconbury's Vivian Newcomer wins her match against Kaiserslautern's Vincent Cissna with a pin during a high school wrestling meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Newcomer won two of her three matches. (William Howard/Stars and Stripes)

Alconbury's Vivian Newcomer wins her match against Kaiserslautern's Vincent Cissna with a pin during a high school wrestling meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Newcomer won two of her three matches.

Alconbury's Vivian Newcomer wins her match against Kaiserslautern's Vincent Cissna with a pin during a high school wrestling meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Newcomer won two of her three matches. (William Howard/Stars and Stripes)

Spangdahlem's Brian Haney and Lakenheath's Phillip Severence fight for control of the match during a high school wrestling meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Haney was able to win the match 8-4.

Spangdahlem's Brian Haney and Lakenheath's Phillip Severence fight for control of the match during a high school wrestling meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Haney was able to win the match 8-4. (William Howard/Stars and Stripes)

AFNORTH wrestler Ashton Guza squeezes down a pin against Lakenheath's Taylor Berentson during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018.

AFNORTH wrestler Ashton Guza squeezes down a pin against Lakenheath's Taylor Berentson during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. (William Howard/Stars and Stripes)

Lakenheath's Joey Glenk wins his match against Brussels wrestler Volkan Geylan with a pin during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Glenk pinned each of his three opponents.

Lakenheath's Joey Glenk wins his match against Brussels wrestler Volkan Geylan with a pin during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Glenk pinned each of his three opponents. (William Howard/Stars and Stripes)

Lakenheath's Nick Scifo pins SHAPE wrestler Henri Toevere to the mat during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018.

Lakenheath's Nick Scifo pins SHAPE wrestler Henri Toevere to the mat during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. (William Howard/Stars and Stripes)

Spangdahlem's Brenden Castillo fights for arm control against Alconbury's Dilyn Collins during a high school wrestling meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Castillo won the match 5-3.

Spangdahlem's Brenden Castillo fights for arm control against Alconbury's Dilyn Collins during a high school wrestling meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Castillo won the match 5-3. (William Howard/Stars and Stripes)

SHAPE wrestler Sean Kilrain tries to pin Kaiserslautern's Christian Torres-Forkn during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Kilrain won the match 11-3.

SHAPE wrestler Sean Kilrain tries to pin Kaiserslautern's Christian Torres-Forkn during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Kilrain won the match 11-3. (William Howard/Stars and Stripes)

SHAPE wrestler Zak Kappenman and Kaiserslautern's Jay Brown eye each other during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Kappenman won the match with a pin.

SHAPE wrestler Zak Kappenman and Kaiserslautern's Jay Brown eye each other during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Kappenman won the match with a pin. (William Howard/Stars and Stripes)

SHAPE wrestler Brandon Procknal breaks away from Kaiserslautern's Noah Wolfe during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Wolfe was able to pin Procknal later in the match.

SHAPE wrestler Brandon Procknal breaks away from Kaiserslautern's Noah Wolfe during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Wolfe was able to pin Procknal later in the match. (William Howard/Stars and Stripes)

Brussels wrestler Trey Chaney lifts Kaiserslautern's Lukas Ahrend during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Chaney won the match 15-13 against Ahrend.

Brussels wrestler Trey Chaney lifts Kaiserslautern's Lukas Ahrend during a high school meet hosted by the Lancers at RAF Lakenheath, England, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Chaney won the match 15-13 against Ahrend. (William Howard/Stars and Stripes)

RAF LAKENHEATH, England ― It didn’t take long Saturday for rivalries to resume and new ones to form as wrestling season got under way in Europe.

While the weather outside and inside the gym reflected that winter’s not that far away, it didn’t seem to take the 70 competitors much time to warm up.

And the gym eventually heated up over the course of the day to match the intensity of the round robin wrestling tournament hosted by the Lancers for visiting Division I rivals Kaiserslautern and SHAPE, along with smaller squads from AFNORTH, Alconbury, Brussels and Spangdahlem.

Coaches divided teams into two brackets, one for point earners and another for less-seasoned wrestlers, to make sure everyone was evenly matched and got the best value of their time on the mat.

Kaiserslautern’s Lukas Ahrend and Brussels’ Trey Chaney kicked of the first match of the day with literal ups and downs as they traded points. Chaney was able to earn a close win with a 15-13 score against Ahrend.

SHAPE wrestler Zak Kappenman calmly pinned Kaiserslautern’s Jay Brown in his first match and said it was thanks to years of honing his technique.

“Things get smoother the more you practice it and that shows on the mat,” said Kappenman, now on his sixth year of wrestling.

One of the longest bouts of the day went to SHAPE wrestler Sean Kilrain and Kaiserslautern’s Christian Torres-Forkn. Both walked away from the mat exhausted with bloody noses as Kilrain earned the win with a score of 11-3.

Lakenheath returning wrestlers Nick Scifo and Joey Glenk both had success on the mat with multiple match winning pins.

Glenk, who moved from to the 195-weight class to 220 this year, won his first match in 25 seconds and clocked his following two wins in about a minute each.

“All this week I was trying to work on something to surprise people because my wrestling style is usually just to bull rush them,” Glenk said. “I want to be unpredictable because last year everyone knew what I was going to do.”

Spangdahlem’s Brian Haney breezed through his weight class until going up against Lakenheath’s Phillip Severence in his final match.

Haney and Severence continually countered each other’s moves while fighting for body control but Haney slowly built up an 8-4 score for a win.

“I’m always trying to keep ahead, think of three moves before I hit them and when I hit them think of three more,” Haney said. “Thinking ahead of the game is pretty much it.”

Now in her third year of wrestling, Alconbury’s Vivian Newcomer won two of her three matches with quick, decisive pins.

Seasoned returners, first-time varsity wrestlers and even middle school teams each had time on the mat during the first of many meets leading up to sectional qualifiers on Feb. 9, and the European championships at Wiesbaden on Feb. 15-16.

howard.william@stripes.com

Twitter: @Howard_Stripes

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