The Lebanon Wrestling team went to Regionals last Saturday, and had seven guys attend. In order of weight class, here are the seven boys that went: Braxton Echeverria, Niko Trepcos, Ethan Coffman, Jeremy Mullins, Vincent Laney, Carson Toole, and Nabih Soumah. The last time the boys team has taken this many guys was the 2014-2015 season. “It felt good knowing I was going into Regionals,” junior Vincent Laney said.

Unfortunately, the boys came up short but put on a very good fight. Only one made it past the first round: Ethan Coffman. It was first round elimination, meaning if you lost the first round, you were out; but if you won, you advanced to semi-state, regardless of placement. “I didn’t really have a true mindset, I just wanted to win,” said Braxton Echeverria, a freshman.

Each guy fought extremely hard in their matches. Some came extremely close to winning, but fell just short. Nabih Soumah, a senior, who had never wrestled for Lebanon before said, “After the match, I was disappointed because I definitely could’ve done more to secure a victory, but I eventually calmed down a bit more and just took the loss as a lesson.” Nabih was extremely close to winning, and it came down to the final seconds before his opponent unfortunately got the upper hand. He gained two more points in those final seconds.

This isn’t the end of their season yet; many of the boys are still attending practices while they can, and are supporting their teammate in preparation for Semi-State. Vincent Laney commented, “I plan on coming back next year, and making it further than I did this year.”

The mindset before the match is extremely important, it can help decide whether you’ll win or lose. Nabih Soumah said, “I was focused on game planning and working around my opponent’s shots. Since I was having back problems, I was also working on finding ways to irritate it as little as possible.” He also added, “I knew if I focused too much on winning, I would ruin the moment for myself so I just decided to have fun and enjoy myself.”

It was a devastating defeat, but it won’t hold the boys back from returning next year and working hard to make it back to Regionals, and possibly further. Braxton said, “I definitely plan on coming back. I intend to put in twice as much work in the off season to be the best I can next year, and hopefully lead the team to another great season.”