Heel! Face! Bump! For many these terms may appear as typical parts of speech or maybe even dance moves, but for 24 Highlanders these words refer to specific moves within a sport they dedicate their winter months to; Wrestling.
Wrestling isn’t necessarily easy work, many wrestlers’ winter consists of hard grinding hours maneuvering their bodies in a meticulous manner to pin down their opponent, in order to capture a win in a wrestling match. Some wrestlers have tallied numerous consecutive wins, and for George Jones recent win at The Highlander Invitational on January 24th marked Jones 100th varsity win.
The Highlander Invite didn’t just mark a triumph for Jones but also for Guy Fraley, senior captain, where he ended up conquering the 190 weight class. Fraley attributes his win to, “The coaches definitely help a lot. My coaches are always pushing me and helping me stay consistent.”
Wins aren’t just characterized by wins on the mat but with wins within the team. During the 2022-2023 season, Homestead had its first female additions to the team. Although women competing in wrestling isn’t a new concept, what comes along with it is ever changing; Ava Lamb, senior wrestler, weight class 106, illustrates her experience within wrestling as, “A little tough, I have had opponents refuse to compete with me because I am a woman, but other than that people are pretty supportive of it.”
With many aspiring to expand the female presence within wrestling sophomore, weight class 126, Salome Benson states, “I really hope to get more girls into wrestling at Homestead because as women wrestling nationwide has been growing; sadly, that hasn’t been the case in Homestead”
Although some view this as a grim fact, Lamb explains her thoughts on the future for female wrestlers within Homestead’s program as, “I hope we get more girls on the team. And I know next year they will have to separate the boys and the girls so I just hope that there are actually enough girls to have a team next year.”
With the team having a large graduating class of seniors from the previous 2023-2024 season with sophomore, and with Guy Fraley, senior captain, weight class 190, describing the current season as, “a rebuilding year.”
Despite the loss of the 2023 graduating class of wrestlers impacting the teams numbers, it hasn’t seemed to alter the spirit of Homestead wrestling with both Jackie Bergy, sophomore wrestler weight class 123 and Ava Lamb, senior wrestler, weight class 106, illustrated their wrestling experience in the program as “hard work.”
Fraley furthers this theme by depicting his experience as “rewarding, difficult, and fun.”
The team has prevailed and with their overall record being predominantly filled with wins, numerous believe that the future for wrestling is far from dim with Jackie Bergy, sophomore wrestler weight class 123, explaining their hopes for the future of the program as, “being conference champions again would be great.”
As the wrestling season progresses many focus on maintaining an atmosphere of hard work, with Salome Benson, Sophomore, weight class 126 stating, “It’s very tough and a lot of hard work, but at the end of practice with all of your friends it’s definitely something to be proud of.”