Outnumbered But Undaunted

Ever wonder about wrestlers?

What makes them tick? Why they labor in relative anonymity, only to emerge occasionally from their natural habitat for six grueling minutes in the spotlight and a line of agate type in the newspaper? How they can possibly find joy in an experience where there is very little gray area or margin for error?
 
Wrestlers must be resilient, determined, and resolute. They can’t allow themselves to be intimidated. Their work ethic must be strong. They need to have short memories…as in move past the disappointments, don’t get too wrapped up in the successes, and look ahead to the next challenge.
 
“Lots of folks think of wrestlers as just being physically tough,” said Mac Friddell, Collegiate’s head coach. “What you don’t always see unless you’re close to it is their mental toughness.”
 
Two weeks ago, the Cougars finished third in the Prep League, a successful performance, to be sure, considering that they had entries in only seven of the 14 weight classes. Ethan Ruh (113), Sky Song (120), Matthew Hamner (132), and Alex Britto (160) placed second. Clay Ryan (106), Marshall Campbell (126), and Walker Cummins (170) placed third. Ruh (junior), Campbell (freshman), Hamner (senior), and Britto (senior) are varsity veterans. It was the first league tournament for Song (sophomore), Ryan (freshman), and Cummins (sophomore).
 
“For the young guys to come out and wrestle really well…thast was big for us,” Britto said. “Third place wouldn’t have been possible without them. I always remember looking up to the captains like Scott Roper and John Ryan Aveson. You see them perform well. You try to do the same to the best of your ability.”
 
The Cougars’ showing was hardly the result of an over-the-top, one-day effort. It was the highlight of a season-long (and in some cases years-in-the-making) commitment to “be the best they could be.” Friddell’s guys, you see, understood that to be successful, they had to put in the grunt work, not just dream of victory on a Saturday or two in February.
 
“Exactly,” he said. “The guys worked hard in the (wrestling) room. Any time you can have a really competitive matchup in the room, both guys will benefit. Matthew Hamner and Marshall Campbell would be the ones I’d point to this year as two guys who just go at it every day in practice and push each other. The competitiveness they have with each other makes them both better. They’ve both taken huge steps up this year.”
 
The season hasn’t been without its down moments. Along the way, three seniors, all reliable veterans, suffered career-ending injuries. With Sam Cuttino (concussion), Allen Condyles (torn labrum), and Frederic Davis (ACL) unavailable for competition, the Cougars’ already thin ranks became thinner.
 
“You obviously lose points they would have scored,” said Friddell. “You also lose intangibles. You lose their leadership and energy, and they would have made other guys better by being their wrestling partners.”
 
Despite the setbacks, the Cougars picked themselves up, soldiered on, and exceeded expectations in their penultimate competition.
 
“We compete every day and make ourselves better,” Friddell added. “The opportunity to wrestle live pretty much every day is pretty unique to the sport. Football practice…you don’t play football every day. Baseball…you don’t scrimmage every day. Wrestling…the guys are really competitive and want to beat whoever’s in front of them. It’s something to get fired up about every day.”
 
A wrestling match is, in a sense, a six-minute, full-body sprint: your strength, will, and mettle pitted against your opponent’s strength, will, and mettle. Staying sharp, focused, and positive is an exercise in self-talk when you consider that the practitioners of the sport spend the vast majority of their time ensconced in a venue well off the beaten path.
 
“I love doing something that’s so personal,” said Ruh, whose third-place at 106 in last year’s VISAA tournament was the Cougars’ top performance. “We love the sport. It’s rewarding. You can be as good as you can be. It’s just you when you’re competing, but there’s camaraderie. It’s a team sport.”
 
Friddell, a 2002 Collegiate graduate, wrestled on the varsity for five seasons. He was All-Prep at 130 his junior year and at 140 as a senior and state runnerup at 130 as a junior.
 
Friday and Saturday, he takes his squad to the state tournament at the Arthur Ashe Center. The seven Prep League competitors plus Alex MacDonald (145) will be in action.
 
Once again, they’ll be outnumbered but hardly undaunted.
 
“Wrestling’s the only combat sport we have in high school,” Friddell said. “It’s a fight with rules. There’s something in some kids’ DNA that responds well to that. It fires them up. It’ll take every one of the guys getting big wins (in the state event). Our goal is a top-10 finish. That would be a serious accomplishment.”
         -- Weldon Bradshaw
        
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