On December 19, the wrestling team competed in their third wrestling match of season. Despite having the home court advantage, the Hawks came up short, losing to Jamaica High School 35 to 32.
The deciding factor of this match was forfeits. The Hawks had to forfeit the 235 and 285 pound weight classes, helping Jamaica win by the mere three points. Despite this loss, the Hawks did show improvement from their previous match, where they lost to Francis Lewis High School 75-10.
Sophomore Alexis Sarabia who won her weight class by forfeit said how this year is a hard year for the team since it is a rebuilding year. “We lost a lot of wrestlers because last years team consisted of primarily seniors. Most of the people on the team this year are new so it’s tough when it comes to our matches.”
Although this is a tough year, junior Brian Balayon believed that “despite being a bit sloppy or timid, some of the rookies are doing quite well for their first year.” In addition, Brian has seen improvement in his own performance. Compared to last year, he feels that he is less passive on the mats.
Junior Ivanka Juran, a first year wrestler, also viewed this match positively. “I think that everyone went out there and wrestled their hardest, and that’s one of the things that makes me admire my teammates so much. They’re really talented, inspirational people who refuse to give up,” she said.
On the other hand, she also believed that the team still has a long ways to go and a lot more to learn. “We videotape our matches so we can see what we have to improve on, so there are definitely a bunch of things that I know that I myself have to improve on,” she noted.
Brian added on to this, stating a major issue the team needs to improve on is their speed and aggression, specifically how the team’s “passive styles are only to our disadvantage.”
All in all, despite being disappointed by the 3 point loss, Alexis was proud of the team. “We tried our best and now all we can really do is work harder at practice, stay focused, and keep pushing ourselves and each other.”
