The winter season is finally here, and that means winter sports are officially upon us at Mount Vernon. Winter season sports like men’s and women’s basketball, bowling, competitive cheer, and wrestling have returned, along with the winter sports season. from a highly enthusiastic new wrestling coach to the historic backgrounds of men’s and women’s basketball, these programs are back and looking to be better than ever. Most of these programs have already started to have meets and games, so let’s take a deeper dive and break these teams one by one.

The Rams men’s and women’s basketball teams have already started to compete. On the men’s side, the Rams competed in the Metro East Lutheran tournament and placed 3rd with a record of 3-1. The men’s team played their first official conference game on December 3 as they traveled to Carbondale to face the Terriers. forward NJ Benson led Mount Vernon to the win with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Mount Vernon also held the Southern Illinois Classic Shootout. The Men’s team lost to Belleville East by a one point margin, with a final score of 67-66.

The Mount Vernon women’s team currently stands at a record of 8-2, and are 1st in the South Seven conference. The women’s team competed in a home non-conference game against Breese Central on Saturday, December 4. The Lady Rams defeated Breese Central in the Southern Illinois Classic Shootout 60-53.

The wrestling team has also started to have meets, as well, and their record sits at 2-1 with their only loss being made by decision. The wrestling team is now under new management as Coach Alejandro Wagner comes in for his first season with the Rams. Their first tournament was Saturday, December 4 at the Glenwood Invite at Glenwood High School, in Chatham, Illinois. The tournament took place in the GHS West Gym.

Along with the other winter sports, the Rams bowling team have had meets as well. Their record sits at 0-2 to start the season. Men’s bowling traveled to Harrisburg on Saturday December 4, and the Women’s team traveled to Taylorville the same day.

MV hosted the ICCA Winter Cheer Competition on Sunday December 5. The Rams cheer team competed in the competition, the JV took the floor at noon and Varsity started at 3. Both JV and Varsity received first place, and qualified for state.

We are hoping to have a great season of sports here at MV, and we wish all of these programs good luck.