By Dillan Ducar ’13
THE ROUNDUP
Wrestling was first devised long ago to be a test of strength and mind between two people, providing a friendly and competitive way to settle differences or to just have fun.
The wrestling team, coached by Mr. Brad Frank and Mr. Jose Leyba ’94, takes part in this competitive experience in tournaments and matches weekly as well as during daily practice.
10 of the 12 varsity members who wrestled at sectionals were invited to state, a prestigious invitation for the most dedicated players.
This year at the state competition Broncos had three people place: Marshall Varner ’11attained second place in the 145 pound weight class, Justin Robles ’11 achieved fourth place in the 130 pound class and Connor Devereux ’11 received sixth place in the 140 pounds class.
This season, which normally lasts from November to mid-February, has been one plagued with many obstacles.
“The season has been especially hard on us,” Mr. Leyba said. “We have had some promising players decide they didn’t want to wrestle, and we’ve lost some of our good wrestlers who have been injured.”
“We have never had a 103 pound wrestler on varsity, and we never had a heavyweight on the team either, so right off the bat that’s minus 12 points,” Mr. Leyba added.
To make it to state requires tremendous dedication to the sport. The team practices for hours almost every day during the season.
When not in season they constantly train by going to summer school wrestling practice in June and wrestling camp in July.
“Sometimes it’s a struggle, sometimes it’s the most exciting thing I do in the day, but it’s always hard work,” said Mark Nageotte ’13, a sophomore wrestler. “When you see everyone working hard it makes you feel like a team.”
“Dan Gable once said, ‘once you wrestled, everything else in life is easy,’” Nageotte said.
Looking to next year, Mr. Leyba hopes they will still have the same great program with experienced wrestlers that they have today.
“This year a lot of our senior wrestlers are leaving us, but we have a great core of sophomore and juniors to look forward too,” Mr. Leyba said.
