General Rules and Regulations 

Poor sportsmanship during practice or matches will NOT be tolerated. You are expected to maintain the highest standards of conduct and sportsmanship on and off the mat. Represent your team and school in the highest regard.

Hazing or harassment of team members and non-team members will NOT be tolerated. We are a team and will treat each other with respect. 

EHS Wrestling practices will be closed practices. 

Practice will start each day at 3:30 PM. This means you must be in the room and dressed by 3:30. Failure to comply with this rule will lead to an additional workout after practice. 

Injured athletes shall attend all practices unless excused by a coach. 

THREE unexcused practice absences will result in dismissal from team. You must pass 5 of your 6 classes to be/remain eligible. 

Team travel and Event Rules/Releasing Athletes to Parents --- Athletes are to ride to competition with the team. All wrestlers MUST STAY FOR THE ENTIRE competitions or events even if they are personally finished or not competing. A coach will only release athletes after the conclusion of an event. Athletes will only be released to their parent/guardian. Athletes are encouraged to travel home with the team after competition. 

Wrestlers will wear ENTIRE uniforms before and during dual matches. Warm-ups with holes in them must be turned back into the coaching staff and you will be issued warm-ups without rips or holes.

Criteria for a Varsity Letter

Criteria

A minimum of sixty (60) Varsity points are necessary to letter.

A wrestler shall be awarded six (6) points per varsity match.

Special Considerations

1. Wrestlers will shower after practice at home. Reasons: 

          ● Less chance of skin disease. 

2. Wrestlers in practice will wear: 

          ● Athletic shorts or similar (yoga pants/compression bottoms must wear shorts over) 

          ● A clean T-shirt 

          ● Head gear 

          ● Wrestling shoes (no tennis shoes) 

3. On match days, wrestler must check weights (Unless Excused): 

          ● Before School 

          ● Before lunch 

          ● Immediately after school 

4. On the Bus: 

          ● No wrestlers will eat or drink going to the match 

          ● After weigh-in, “snacks” should be light. 

          ● May eat on ride back but please keep bus/Suburbans clean. 

5. Home Matches: 

          ● Wrestlers show up an hour before weigh-in to set up. Tournaments are different, info. sent out via remind/on website with times.

          ● Stay until the end and help put mats, etc., away 

6. During all matches (home & away): 

          ● No wrestlers shower or change until all wrestlers have wrestled. 

          ● All wrestlers cheer on all wrestlers on team.

Challenges

The following are some rules to remember concerning challenges: 

1. Only first-string JV wrestlers may challenge for the varsity. 

2. After Christmas break, a varsity wrestler must be defeated twice before he loses his spot on the varsity lineup. (this rule does not apply in cases where there was no previously established varsity wrestler or when a wrestler reaches a certified weight for the first time.) 

3. Challenges will be six minutes in length. 

4. No cheering or coaching is allowed during challenge matches. 

5. Challenges may not take place the night before a match unless some special or unforeseen circumstance warrants this. 

6. The coaching staff reserves the right to decide the line-up based on professional discretion.

• WIAA Information Here 
• Hydration Tip Sheet

Any wrestler who has earned (300) or more letter points in a single season shall become a member of the “300 Point Club”. The names of these individuals shall be permanently inscribed on a trophy that will remain in the trophy case at the Ellensburg High School. In addition, these individuals shall be recognized on the program at our season-ending banquet.

In addition to the Bulldogs, EHS High School Wrestling has had another mascot that has played an important role in Ellensburg Wrestling for well over 20 years.

A full "Fred"  History will be complete soon.

Who was Ray Westberg?

Ray Westberg was a coach, a teacher,  a writer, a friend, and a father figure to many.   

Ray Westberg, longtime wrestling coach and teacher at Ellensburg High School, died Thursday.

Westberg, voted the 1995 Washington wrestling coach of the year, led the Class AA Bulldogs to consecutive undefeated seasons and the Mid-Valley League championship the past two seasons. The Bulldogs have won nearly 30 consecutive home dual meets, and several wrestlers have placed at the state meet under Westberg's tutelage.

Westberg, 47, collapsed in his classroom shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday, complaining of intense pain in his chest and legs. He later died after being transported by ambulance to a local hospital.

Westberg, a Vietnam veteran and graduate of Pullman High and Washington State, was first hired in the Ellensburg School District 23 years ago as an English teacher at Morgan Middle School. Westberg moved to the high school and began assisting the wrestling team about 15 years ago, said Roger Krening, Ellensburg's athletic director who had known Westberg for a dozen years.

Westberg also was Ellensburg's head football coach for four seasons (1983-86).

Respected by his students and peers, Westberg was voted Teacher of the Year by Bulldog students the past four years.

Recounting Westberg's achievements is difficult, Krening said, because Westberg rarely shared his accolades with others.

"He's one that never bragged about his success, and if he did (win awards), he kept those things to himself," Krening said. "It was a privilege for me to know him and he bettered my life."

Daily Record News Article- Ray Westberg's influence still carries weight and inspires all

Jan 20, 2020
Rodney Harwood
Before there was Ray Westberg, the wrestling tournament, there was Ray Westberg the man.

He was an educator — a U.S. Marine who served his country in Vietnam. He was a coach, a lover of the sport who loved life and pushed his students to that same standard of excellence. He held people accountable.

And as long-time coach and educator Nip Tucker said Saturday afternoon at the wrestling tournament in his memory, Ray was all things Ellensburg.

“Ray was the reason you wanted to live in Ellensburg. There’s the Ellensburg Rodeo, Jazz in the Valley and Ray Westberg,” said Tucker, who was in Westberg’s sixth-grade class in 1974. “He was a marine and a no-nonsense kind of guy.”

“He held people accountable in a positive way, and I think that’s what I admired about him most,” Tucker said. “Yeah, he was a fine coach, but if his kids weren’t working hard in the classroom, they didn’t participate. Didn’t matter how good they were, if they had one of his classes they towed the line.”

Westberg, a popular Ellensburg High School teacher who barely survived the Vietnam War, collapsed in front of students during a morning class on Sept. 4, 1997. The English teacher and longtime wrestling coach was 47 when he died of an apparent heart attack.

He had been an athlete, mountaineer, soldier, educator and author. He was known for his intelligence and quick wit, according to an Associated Press story. The revered educator had evolved from the horrors of the Vietnam War, which was testament to his character. Critics feared him. His students worshiped him.

Ellensburg head coach Jeremy Wolfenbarger was in that classroom that tragic day and later went to the hospital where he, along with Westberg’s close friends Dr. Bill Pace and Patt and Sandy Stevenson, were there when Westberg passed away.

“He’s the reason I am who I am today,” Wolfenbarger said. “I was in the class that day, we (the wrestling team) all were. It was devastating. But he made us better. He was the kind of guy you wanted to work hard for because he believed in you and helped you believe in yourself.

“He held you accountable, made you stand for something. It wasn’t all about sports. Yeah, he’s the reason I am who I am today.”

Bulldogs assistant coach Jeff Rinehart wrestled for Westberg in 1994. He remembers a man fair in his assessment and straight forward in his delivery.

“No matter how good you were, he would always put school work first. It was a shock when he died. It was tough because he’d been around forever. So to name this tournament after him is special,” he said.

The year of Westberg’s passing, senior Marcus Mays dedicated the season to his former coach. Mays went 34-0 and won a state championship. Westberg was a major influence in the lives of the Stevenson brothers, Sandy and Jason, both of whom went on to All-American recognition at Central Washington University.

On Saturday, the tournament crowned three champions from Ellensburg, including lower weight most outstanding wrestler Christian Davis (120), Lorenzo Gonzalez (160 pounds) and Fransisco Ayala (132).

“To win the championship at the Ray Westberg means something,” said senior Henry Rinehart, who won the 182-pound championship the year before. “I placed third this year, but to wrestle well at this tournament means something to all of us.”