As the winter sport seasons wind down, swimmers put up their caps, basketball players shoot one final hoop and the wrestlers begin to roll up their mats. This season for wrestling has been one of multiple successes both on and off the mat for the team as a whole.
For anyone who may not understand wrestling, here is a basic overview of it: the way to get points in wrestling is for the athlete to either take down their opponent or to be able to escape if they get taken down.
Taking down simply means having their opponent on all fours with the wrestler behind them, unable to escape. To earn points through an escape a wrestler must be able to breakout of a take down.
The team gained freshmen Damon Mantooth, Logan Hudson and Preston Fox to add to the leadership of seniors Thomas Alvarez, Brandon Campbell, Wesley Gates and Austin Hudson.
The team saw great success in their second meet against Cloverdale. Fox started his high school season off strong by winning 5-0. Hudson also had an astounding take down which gave the team their first win.
As the season went on the team faced both triumph and adversity but continued to push further with the goals of getting better and going to regionals.
When asked about the season as a whole, Alvarez said that his favorite memory was senior night when the team faced off against Owen Valley.
“We had to forfeit six of our weight classes so coach bumped everyone up. We knew we had to win every single match and that’s exactly what we did.”
This year the team took four of its wrestlers to regionals. Alvarez, Hudson, Ricardo Escudero and Dalton Butler all represented Cascade. Although none of them moved on, they all agreed that it was humbling being present.
Looking toward the future, Escudero has high hopes for his senior season even though the team will potentially have low numbers. “Everyone out there is [going to] compete seriously. We have people who work hard and want to win.”
This much is true as Escudero and Butler will be the seniors for next year, both having gone to regionals once. Fox will also be a force to reckon having ended his first season of wrestling with a score of 23-6 and six wins by forfeit.
Whether they move on to college or begin training for next season, we wish our Cascade wrestlers the best of luck.