Braving the treacherous road conditions, on Saturday, January 7, the RM varsity wrestling team headed to Poolesville High School for their first tri-meet of the season against the Damascus Hornets and the Poolesville Falcons. Despite their best efforts, the team headed home with two tough losses, 77-0 to the Hornets and 56-21 to the Falcons, dropping to 2-4 on the season.
Given the second and third matches of the tri-meet, the Rockets got the chance to witness the Hornets dismantle the Falcons. However as they walked up to the mat, the team seemed completely relaxed yet determined, unaffected by Damascus’ intimidating wrestling prowess.
“I think the trick is not to have too high expectations, but still have that fighting spirit,” remarked junior Baiiquni Iman-Santoso, “you have to be real with yourself, but you also have to really want the win.”
Knowing their impressive reputation, the team nevertheless resolved to make the Hornets work for each fight, escaping near pin after near pin. “Even against Damascus,” expressed senior Ben Fishman, “we gave it our all in each match, fighting to get ourselves off the mat no matter what.” As the final whistle sounded, the RM wrestlers still had not gotten on the board, suffering a hard fought yet tough shut out.
Shrugging off the last match, the Rockets headed into their next fight with a fresh, optimistic mindset. Starting off strong, they achieved two pins, with one crucial win coming from senior Marc Flores to gain them a narrow 21-19 lead. “We just kept a no giving up attitude,” Flores explained, “we thought that we had a decent chance against the Falcons so we aimed to give it one hundred percent.”
However, this hardfought lead quickly disappeared as the Falcons’ points ballooned up to 56, handing the Rockets yet another overall loss.
“We showed up and wrestled our best, but we were facing better wrestlers, and that showed in technique and speed,” Fishman admitted, “we just got beat by two better teams.”
Despite being unable to take home a win, the Rockets walk away from their first tri-meet with a certain satisfaction knowing that they displayed an abundance of determination and heart.
“I’d say our mental toughness is the biggest strength of this team, we kept our heads up through every match,” continued Fishman, “obviously I would have liked to have won, but we went in there and did our best, and that’s what matters.”
Buoyed by their relentless fighting spirit, the team will try to shake off these two hard losses as they visit Walt Whitman High School next Wednesday to face off against the Vikings.
