On December 6th and 7th, the girls’ and boys’ wrestling teams wrestled in their second meet of the season. All athletes were determined and put their skills to the test on the mat.
On Friday night, Jasmine Carr and Jordyan Metcalf traveled to East Jackson for the Girls’ Wrestling Invitational. They both put their skills to the test battling tough opponents. Carr lost her first two matches paired up against tough opponents. Metcalf was able to defeat both of her opponents in the first two matches, bringing her into the semifinals of a 15-girl bracket. In the semifinals, she ended up losing to the girl who placed first in the tournament. She then wrestled in the consolation semifinals, losing to the girl who placed third in the tournament.
Junior Jordyan Metcalf has been wrestling since she was in third grade. When asked how she felt about her performance, she responded, “I think it was very good compared to last year. I was more comfortable and energized. I also was not so nervous about what I was doing, I just went out there and did what I needed to do.” Of all the opponents she faced, she felt that the one she faced in the semifinals was the most difficult. Metcalf explains that the girl wrestled for the USA team, but she was able to last for two periods. She was very proud of herself and felt good about the outcomes of the matches.
Photo provided.
Jasmine Carr has been wrestling for the past four years. She feels she did well in her matches, despite the opponents she had to face. Carr explains, “I feel like any school that came out of a different state was the toughest because they’re more ranked than we are.” She had a lot of mixed feelings when walking onto the mat, but ended up feeling proud of herself when she walked off. She says, “ Before I went onto the mat I was nervous because it was my first match of the season. Getting off the mat I was telling myself that it was okay and that there were plenty more meets and tournaments to come.” Overall, she is proud of herself and the improvement she has made from last year. Next meet, she wants to work on her bridging skills and be the first one to take a shot.
Wrestling on Saturday at the 39th annual Grover Invitational were Nate Fritz, Ethan Cesco, Zach Deboe, and Kingston Travis. In their first two matches, Fritz and Travis ran into top-seeded wrestlers; they both wrestled with a lot of offense but ended up falling short. Cesco lost his first match but was able to battle back to win his second match. He had another great match but lost to another wrestler who placed in the tournament. Deboe had an amazing first match, quickly defeating his opponent; he put up a good fight for his next two but ended up losing to strong opponents.
Nate Fritz has been a part of the wrestling team since his eighth-grade year. He did well this past weekend despite the challenges he faced. He says, “I think that I did alright; I am in a tough weight class so that makes it difficult for me, but I ended up doing pretty good.” He adds that he struggled with some of his opponents because they were taller and stronger than him. Fritz explains that he puts in a lot of effort during practice to improve. When he wrestles with Ethan Cesco and Jordyan Metcalf, he sees the most progress. He says, “We push each other to do better.”
This year the team has a new coach, Dan Claus. He has been coaching for many years, starting as an assistant coach and then moving his way up to be the head coach at Concord High School. He is excited about many aspects of this season, but one thing in particular: “ I am excited to continue seeing what the wrestlers have already shown. They work hard in practice and have great attitudes about training and competing. With that mindset, their skill can only improve.” He adds that they have many goals as a team for this season, but their main one is to be able to excel both on the mat and in life. They are going to accomplish this by following the core values that spell out WRESTLER; to be a Warrior, to be Resilient, to be Extraordinary, to be Strong, to be Tenacious, to be a Leader, to be Empowering, and to be Respectful. Claus says, “These, above anything else, will pave the way to being successful.” These principles were seen in the performance of all of the athletes this past weekend. Claus is proud of all of his athletes and looks forward to the rest of the season with them.
The athletes used the skills that they have gained along the way to put in their best effort, they will continue to improve as the season progresses. We wish them the best of luck today at Quincy!
