Wednesday night, Dec. 14, the boys wrestling team went against Massaponax on their home mats. The event was a double dual, with Stafford and Riverbend as well.

The event had a disappointing turn out, with only Trevor Nielsen (‘25) winning by major and Neko Mitchell (‘24) winning his match by forfeit.

Although there wasn’t much success in this event, the team is still looking for ways to improve from this loss. The loss has provided the team with a chance to reflect on ways they can improve.

“I feel that I definitely could’ve performed better, I was just scared because I knew that Riverbend was a skilled team, and they’re looking to be the best team in our district. I think the rest of the team was the same way,” Nice Pokleang (‘24) said.

Not only was the opposing team more skilled, but the other factors had effects on the team, such as age and experience.

“We also have a young team, so we’ll be working on a lot of minor mistakes that we make during matches. These simple things add up a lot and it causes a solid amount of wrestlers to lose or get pinned,” Anthony Qura (‘24) said.

In addition to the team mentally reflecting, they’re also physically preparing for the rest of their events.

“After the loss we were looking at our weaknesses and what to improve on. We were working on a lot of technical things like working on our setups as well as being more physical,” Neko Mitchell (‘24) said.

With winter break coming up, the team is planning to take advantage of the time to build up their skills.

“This week during our break, we’re going to practice a lot. Even some days we’ll be having double practice to work on what we did wrong Wednesday night and this past season,” Anthony Qura (‘24) said.

The double practices are giving the team another shot at hope to better themselves for the rest of the season, carrying on to the rest of their events.

“I really hope with all the practice we’re getting it’ll give us a better shot at performing well as a team for the next invitationals and for Districts coming up soon,” Neko Mitchell (‘24) said.