The wrestling team had their first match on Thursday December, 3 against Douglas County. Although they didn’t “bring home the gold” and they lost 27-48, it was only their first match. The winners of the night were Ryan Earl, 12, Curran Chapman, 12, and Patrick Haggard, 10. along with Tanner Hunt, 10, and Tyler Pitts, 10, winning by forfeit since no one competed in their weight class.

During a match, a wrestler can get two points for a takedown, one point for an escape, two points for a reversal, two points for a near fall, and six points for a forfeit. A match lasts three periods with two minute durations each.There is no point limit.

“Overall I think we could of done better, we need to work on our conditioning, but that’s a part of the sport. We need to look at what we did bad and see what we did bad and what we need to work on. We just need to go back into the gym and just work on what we did wrong,” said Chayse Smith, 10.

Smith joined wrestling for the first time this year and the made varsity squad. “I feel like I will have a good season,” said Smith. “It was just my first varsity match and I was kind of nervous and just psyched myself out. I joined wrestling to help my jiu-jitsu and I enjoy the team aspect of it.”

There are 15 weight classes for wrestling. The most popular weight classes are: 145 pounds, 152 pounds, 160 pounds, 170 pounds, 180 pounds,  and 190 pounds. During a practice, the team begins with a warm-up and tumbling. Additionally, the wrestlers perform live wrestling situations to prepare for matches. Winding down the practice, the wrestlers focus on their techniques and run for five minutes.

“Wrestling is more focused on the individual. But as an individual, you want to do good for your team so you score points for your team. It’s a bit of both a team aspect and an individual one. Curran “Chappy” Chapman has really brought me under his wing and he’s taught me a lot. I came in unknowing what wrestling really was and Chappy taught me what I’ve learned so far,” said Smith.

This year the team has three captains, Curran Chapman, Ryan Earl and Tanner Hunt. The team has five coaches: Coach Hannon, Coach Tupper, Coach Baker, Coach Wineman, and Coach TJ. During the tournament, a volunteer video tapes each match so the team can review good or bad plays and see what they need to work on.

In wrestling, they can drop weight classes by losing weight but gaining muscle so you can go against a smaller guy, making for an easier  match. They can also do the opposite and gain weight to go up a weight class to give themselves more of a challenge.
“We didn’t beat ourselves up about the loss, we just took it as learning opportunity. Douglas County is a really good team, we lost to them last year by a match. We should’ve won the tournament, but we didn’t. We’ll come back throughout the season and be sending a couple guys to state,” Smith said.