It was a chilly December night, but walking into the gymnasium warmed you up quick. The small but passionate women’s wrestling team had hit the mats after warmup, and parents lined the bleachers. Because of Topsail’s small ranks, the girls had won multiple bouts by forfeit. But the last game for the girls ended in an explosive win by Katherine Le-bui.
As the women shuffle out of the gym into the locker room, the boy’s junior varsity starts their matches. Isaiah Gregory, an accomplished freshman, quickly gained the advantage over his opponent and won. Leonel Rodriguez also took the win for JV.
Once JV had finished their time on the mat, Topsail’s Varsity ran out for warmups while our guys went to the locker room. After around fifteen minutes of cartwheels, stretches and running, Topsail finally sat back down in their corner and West Brunswick came out for their version of warmups.
After warmups finished, the team captains met in the middle before the matches began. Sophomore Tristan Winburn is the standing Team Captain for West, and he happened to be the first on the mats to wrestle. The former state qualifier won his match quickly, and another sophomore, Chris Bui, was up next. Bui kept the streak alive with another win against Topsail, but the next sophomore, Joshua Connick, lost after a long fight. Another loss followed after a valiant try by senior Cyrus Gregory. But another losing streak was broken by junior Bryson Mabe, whose hand was raised after three rounds.
Although by the end of the night, Topsail had the higher score, our team was proud of their efforts and still learned a great deal.
