After the first period ends, senior Chris Gamboa is ready to begin the next. What would leave others too tired and exhausted to carry on gives Gamboa more energy and enough adrenaline to continue wrestling to his best ability. The referee points at him, and he chooses to start the next period neutral, him and his opponent standing and facing one another. They both crouch anticipating the ring of the whistle and with it, both advance forward. After quick movements and strategic skills, Gamboa has his Dundee-Crown opponent under him within the first 15 seconds in one swift combination.
Gamboa felt confident in his match and especially proud of his transitioning and constant movement in tonights match.
The Raiders pulled a win with a final score of 39-27 against Dundee-Crown, a classic wrestling rival of Huntley. Dundee-Crown and Huntley have a tradition of awarding the same trophy to the winning team, so when the Raiders won, they received the anticipated trophy from Dundee-Crown, who held it from their previous win over Huntley last year.
“They’re always a good match up with us,” said coach Benjamin Bertelsman. “It’s a fun rivalry. We got our own trophy so it was a good time.”
A handful of wrestlers, like senior captains Gamboa, Ricky Vigil, and Brandon Meyer, stood out during the meet and did well in leading the team to victory.
“We got a lot of bonus points, so we’re getting better,” said Gamboa.
However, even with a win, the team was not at its peak performance. Many wrestlers did not wrestle at their fullest potential.
“We were a little sloppy, but we picked it up,” said Gamboa.
With this, the team agreed that each wrestler just needs to work on fundamental skills and building up the endurance to last an entire match for six minutes.
“We need to work on wrestling better, not going on our back, and finishing a match,” said Bertelsman.
These improvements will lead the Raiders to an easier, more definite victory in their upcoming meets next week. This beginning meet may not have been absolutely ideal, but with more experience, the Raiders will be sure to raise the bar, especially the young talent on the varsity team.
“Some kids are young and they don’t really have enough experience yet,” said Gamboa. “But we’re growing as a team.”