This winter, Wakefield High School’s wrestling teams gave it their all. Persevering through challenges, each player performed to their best ability, proving the strength of this team. As their season wraps up, the team has the chance to reflect on the hard work and relationships they put in all season long.
Wakefield had only three wrestlers on their women’s team this season, forcing them to forfeit certain matches. This unfortunately lowered their overall placement in the district to third. Russell Williams, head coach of six years, is pleased nonetheless with his team’s performance and determination.
“We’ve had a lot of hard work,” Williams said. “We still represented Wakefield well. We are very competitive and were still ranked in the top twenty in the state.”
Despite how the team may look on paper, it is their improvement and progress that really matters to them. The highlight of their season was their performance against tough opponent, Seaforth High School. Though losing the match, junior Rohama Gebremichael was proud of herself and her teammates.
We are very competitive and were still ranked in the top twenty in the state.
— Williams
“We did really well against one of the top teams, Seaforth,” Gebremichael said. “A lot of our guys are newer and they fought their way into our lineup and managed to do a really good job [against Seaforth].”
Wakefield wrestling thrives through the camaraderie and team spirit shown by each member. Senior Dayna Bland is thrilled that she got to experience a community like this one last time.
“I wasn’t going to wrestle this season because I was worried about getting injured,” Bland said. “But after wrestling this season it really stood out to me that I’m glad I did it. I made a lot of friends and had a great time with my coaches and teammates.”
Having backup from teammates positively impacted the performance of wrestlers on the mat. Tobin McNair, a freshman, enjoyed his first season as a Wolverine, as he got to participate in something new.
“I have always done club [wrestling],” McNair said. “It’s never been through school, so this was a different experience. I think being around the team made it easier [to succeed]”
With the season coming to a close, Williams has the ultimate goal of increasing the number of athletes on the women’s wrestling team. With an increase in attendance, the team will not be required to forfeit matches as they had to this season.
“[We] definitely want to build our women’s program back up to where it was last year,” Williams said. “This year for various reasons, our women’s team just had lower numbers.”
