As the wrestling season comes to a close, with their last meet on Feb 4th, Irvington celebrates its persistence and growth throughout the past few months. Despite several challenges, the team pushed through and achieved milestones, such as winning a dual meet while missing weight classes and having their captain rank among the top hundred wrestlers in the state.
The team faced major setbacks such as missing weight classes and limited resources. Missing weight classes is detrimental to the team since if a weight class is not filled by someone on the team, it becomes an automatic forfeit, making it extremely hard for the relatively smaller team to win dual meets. Furthermore, Irvington’s mat room is also smaller than other schools, which limits their practice. Wrestling Head Coach Ivan comments, “The mat room really limits how much you can perform because of the drills you can do, and how hard you can wrestle.” This impacts the team’s technical skills and their performance at matches, making their 1 win out of 6 meets even more victorious. Another challenge the team faces is the loss of their coach. Coach Ivan plans to retire this year, leaving the team’s future uncertain.
Despite these setbacks, Irvington demonstrated resilience. Wrestling Captain Shane Takara (12) remarks, “I try to keep a good mentality, and I bring that into the mat run, as well as tournaments. Staying positive, staying focused in tournaments, as well as showing up to practice is crucial.” This mentality is echoed by the other team members. Lucy Bunker (10), comments, “The team grew a lot this season by growing closer and improving their individual skills.” Their effort allowed them to push past limitations and arise stronger.
Next year, the team hopes to cope with the loss of their seniors, who make up a majority of the team, and their coach. However, they are still optimistic for the future. Aiden Kwok (10) adds, “We are going to miss our seniors, but we learned a lot from them.” By focusing on technical skills and recruiting new members, they are determined to continue their hard work.
