Despite the setback of four starting wrestlers not competing (seniors Varun Scarlett, Ellio Malave, Rocco Munna and freshman Luke Munna), varsity wrestling members placed highly amongst the 28 teams at the two-day tournament at Woodbridge Senior High School on Dec. 29.
Senior John Charette placed third in his weight class of 220 pounds during the finals.
“The team performance [was] a representation of how the individuals practice and how hard they push themselves when coaches aren’t watching,” sophomore Sean Zechman, who competed in the Woodbridge tournament, said. “Coaches contribute to our success by driving us past our breaking point in practice, and staying after practice or coming before school to help us improve our technique.”
In another meet on Jan. 2 at Falls Church High School, over 10 wrestlers placed in the top five in their respective weight classes, resulting in Marshall placing overall in third place amongst other schools.
“I’ve improved with my takedowns in meets and have gotten take-downs on better and better guys,” Charette said. “My top has gotten better as I’m able to ride guys for a few more seconds every match, but I still have a long way to go to reach my goals.”
Although wrestlers show improvement on the individual level, the standing of the team has suffered since there is a shortage of varsity starters.
“Last year we were really good, but we graduated six of our 14 starters,” coach Jason Planakis said. “One transferred, and one state qualifier decided not to wrestle anymore, so we’re overall a pretty young team and not as solid as last year. There’s a lot of young guys who are also stepping up and doing well, but there’s a bit of a learning curve because more people are relying on them that didn’t before.”