Getting a guy on their back and hearing the referee’s hand hit the mat is every wrestlers’ dream. They work constantly to be able to succeed. This year, the boys team has been doing extremely well. Braxton Echeverria leads the team currently with 17 pins, and has a leading record of 23-5. This weekend, the boys traveled to North Central High School to compete in a duel tourney. “I think about what I need to do in order to help the team as much as possible,” Braxton said.

A duel tourney is where teams wrestle one another as teams, meaning you wrestle one team, then another, and then another. Vincent Laney, a junior who was injured last year pretty early into the season has made a good comeback this year, “This year has been all about getting back into the groove of things, wrestling has always been great and even better this year since last year was cut way short.”

At the tournament, two wrestlers went 5-0, meaning they won every single match they had that day. These two wrestlers were Braxton Echeverria, a freshman, and Carson Toole, a senior. When asked about how the season is going, Braxton said, “The season has been going better than I intended and expected.”

The team has what some would call a ritual where they yell their teammates name/nickname before they wrestle. “The team works together by our signature yells when our teammate wrestles,” Stefan Barker, a sophomore, said. The team also works together during practices every day when they don’t have a meet/tournament. “The team works together mainly in practice to further each other’s skills but we also work together to hype one another up during and before matches,” Braxton Echeverria said.

Wrestling is an extremely difficult sport, and it takes a lot of time and effort to be able to get better and become the best. “My favorite part of wrestling is how it’s a team sport, but focuses on individual skills more than any other sport,” said Braxton Echeverria. Wrestling is constantly changing, meaning our teams have to adapt to those changes. Stefan Barker said, “My favorite part is how much the hard work pays off in the long run.”

If you’re ever looking for a sport, wrestling is always looking for new kids for the team. Most people can be intimidated by wrestling, which can make sense. It’s a tiring sport; unless you pin the guy, you’re wrestling for six minutes. Which means, throughout practices you have to build your stamina up unless you know you can take your opponent down and pin them quickly. But it also teaches you many life lessons and skills. “My favorite part of wrestling is the lessons it teaches you in life,” said Vincent Laney.