The varsity wrestling team won their first tournament of the winter season against Richmond area and local schools on Dec. 3 and went on to place tenth out of 32 in the annual NOVA Classic tournament on Dec. 9.
The team also won 49-21 and 47-24 against Lee and Edison high schools respectively on Dec. 14 in scrimmage matches. Junior Robert Gonzales said “we should have placed higher as a team” at the NOVA Classic tournament but “we had three weight classes where nobody wrestled.”
On Saturday, the wrestlers went to the Raider Classic tournament at Stewart High School and came in first of eight teams.
Senior Matt Crawford said the team was “planning on winning [the Raider Classic] and many other tournament and duel meets” this season.
Varsity wrestling head coach Jason Planakis said the team’s “number one goal is to win the district tournament, to be district champs [and have] as many individual champs as possible.”
“We have a really solid team this year,” junior Ryan Barrett said. “This is year we could win regionals.”
Planakis said he hopes the team will “have anywhere from three to six individual district champs out of 14 weight classes and bring 12 out of 14 wrestlers to the regional tournament.”
“A few guys have a good shot at winning the regional final,” Planakis said. He added that both senior James Cusack and Crawford “could win district titles and regional titles as well as … play time at states.”
Wins by the team’s strongest players present a “strong goal for them as individuals” and the team, Planakis said.
Both Cusack and Crawford won second place in their respective weight classes at the NOVA Classic tournament. Gonzales said he expects the two to “probably win the district.”
Although the team’s biggest priority is to do well at districts, Planakis said the team also hopes to “place in the top ten at the regional tournament, perhaps even top five.”
This year, Planakis has encouraged both the JV and varsity wrestlers to eat lunch together, support each other and become “a family,” junior Brandon Juarez-Lopez said.
Gonzales said expects the team to do well at the district matches. “The goal is to win—but I definitely think we’ll be placing hiring than normal … We don’t have a lot of superstars but we have a lot of solid wrestlers.”
According to Barrett, the team is currently upperclassman-heavy with 11 of 14 starters as seniors which, while a good thing for this season, will lead to many open starting positions next year.
Crawford is optimistic that there are enough experienced underclassmen to fill in the gaps the graduating seniors will leave.
“People won’t grow into their positions for the first year,” Gonzales said. “The people we have [now], not all of them are ready.
“We’ll have some individuals that will do well but as a team we’re going to have to work very hard to do well.”