As November approaches, the wrestling squad are preparing for their 2017-2018 campaign.
They are committed on making this season ten times better than last season.
Junior Kevin Reyes is ready for the season to begin.
“Last season we had ups and downs like every other sport but also some success. We had two conference championships and we had others qualify for regionals. We also had downs. For example we were short of wrestlers at times which costs us points at duels or tournaments,” said Reyes.
Their season leads to lots of offseason improvements to make sure this one meets their goals. Reyes’ expectations are aimed high, matching the rest of his team and coach’s goals.
“My goal for this season is to win conference and go far in the regional tournament. Another thing would be to win more matches than last year,” Reyes said. “But it takes a lot of work in the mat room, like taking practice more serious and just getting better everyday to perfect my craft.”
Like any team, leadership is very important to the success to the team. Reyes believes they are in good hands.
“We have good leadership, like Allen, Hunter, Cesar and Uriel. They push us in practice, and doing everything a leader would do. They show perfect examples of how we should do things and help us to get better everyday,” said Reyes.
To accompany those leaders must be younger, new wrestlers. That’s what they believe they also have a lot of.
“We got some really talented young wrestlers like Yassir, Patrick, and Dylan. They put in work like everybody else and we will only get better,” said Reyes.
New wrestlers will be in good hands, but according to veterans, they must know that this is a challenging sport.
“The new wrestlers, they’ll get better too, but they just have to be committed and keep going even if they don’t want to in order to reach success. This sport isn’t for everyone either so it’ll only challenge them,” said Reyes.
Derek Sweet, Head Coach for the Varsity wrestling team is very optimistic for the new season. Ending the 2016-2017 season on a high note with a couple conference championships, the team hopes to repeat that and go even further. Another goal the team has is to win the conference.
The coaching staff has proven over and over that the team can be great and this year should be no different. The many practices leading up to their first meet will give the team to bond and get better together. The many great talents such as senior Allen Kokilananda and sophomore Yassir Sayed will help the team in terms of leadership and great examples.
Led by them, the team will earn a lot of points from the individual matches and it will all add up.
The wrestlers will be preparing for their first scrimmage against Mount Vernon High School on November 21st. After that, they have their first official meet, a dual meet, on Dec. 2, against King George High School.
They will be looking to start the season with a win, and continue to succeed after that.