Varsity Wrestling Ends Season Second in League, Advancing Seven Players to CIF Preliminaries

NATE GARCIA
Assistant Sports Editor

Wrestling is a sport that requires both dedication and fitness. The varsity wrestling team practices daily from sixth period to 5:30 p.m. in the wrestling room. They begin practice with a series of stretches and move on to learn new moves that will better their overall skills. With the intense and hard work put into practices, the team has come in second place in Almont League and seven wrestlers have advanced to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) preliminaries. Despite the reduced roster this year, the wrestlers have overcome their opponents and broke through to the next round.
“We had a smaller roster and a lot of young guys this year. We had 3-4 [wrestlers], such as Steven Ovsepian and Aaron Logan, that helped the team progress,” captain Michael Robles said.
The seven wrestlers who have advanced to the CIF prelims include Aaron Logan, Steven Ovsepian, Michael Robles, Peter Sosa, Michael Median, Eric Garcia and Ruben Garcia. Robles, along with teammate Logan, were able to achieve a league record of 4-1. On the other hand, the reduced roster has shown to have an effect on many invitationals and dual meets.
“What hurts us the most is not having a complete team. […] During dual meets, for every person that is missing in a division, we lose three points,” Logan said.
In this case, size is not an obstacle for this unified, strong team of wrestlers. They are hoping to get past the first round of the CIF preliminaries, which takes place on Feb. 15, and advance to later rounds and possibly the CIF finals. Overall, the wrestling team has fought strong this year despite a small size.