The Atoms are starting their final stretch before heading into the playoffs and are at a steady pace as of now.
Throughout the holiday break, the team had two tournaments to keep focus and it paid off last Wednesday.
On Jan. 15, AHS hosted the annual Pack the Pit event against Massaponax and Wakefield.
Pack the Pit acts as the wrestling team’s senior night.
This season, the Atoms are letting go of seven seniors, Emerson Rivera (285 lbs.), Joe Neary (195), Ryan Fowler (152 lbs.), Dylan Weaver (170), Patrick Lee (182 lbs.), Michee Nseka (285 lbs.), Paramvir Singh (220 lbs).
Six of the seven are on varsity which only leaves eight remaining wrestlers.
Luckily, they have a strong JV program with over 40 members to set up for next season.
The meet itself went very well for the Atoms, beating both teams and in a dominant style.
The Atoms had a lot of notable performances and moments throughout the event.
Lee, Weaver, and Neary all had two pins each. Sophomore Brent Sanchez (120 lbs.) won a close match, 6-4, and Freshman Tyson Nguyen (115 lbs.), also won a close match, 5-4.
The Atoms were able to rack up 54 points as a unit and created a 30 point differential between them and Wakefield.
Even with the stellar performance, the Atoms aren’t completely done yet, they still have a district meet on Jan.22, and a dual against Herndon on Jan.29.
That gives the Atoms only one more chance to face Mount Vernon before the district tournament, a team they’ve struggled with this season.
Hayfield is also someone the Atoms are keeping on their main radar, the other team who beat them out last season.
The Atoms are lucky enough to have an extra dual in between the week of the meet and the tournament to pick up some more matches before they get into playoff mode.
The team is still working on their regular conditioning and agility to improve skills.
This training has shown improvement from earlier in the season.
The team was falling behind West Potomac in earlier tournaments but has shown the strength to out beat them.
Conditioning and weight training was and still is a big factor in their success.
“It’s important to have both technique and strength while wrestling,” said Sanchez. “There’s a point where muscle and speed beats all technique so you have to balance it.”
In earlier meets and tournaments, it was evident that the Atoms were relying on the seniors and juniors to carry success in the season.
Adding underclassmen in the mix of things was pretty valuable and it showed in Pack the Pit and will probably show in the district tournaments.
If the Atoms move on from the district tournament, they still have a long time before the season ends.