| A Carbon wrestler is temporarilly on the bottom during a meet with Emery held in Price last Wednesday. |
Bloody noses, cheering crowds, and spandex, it must be wrestling season.
Carbon High School faced off against Emery High School last Wednesday at home and the outcome of the junior varsity meet was Carbon 27, Emery 12.
Then the varsity had their chance and they took the Spartans down 38-34.
“Our team’s strength is the that they are all at the same level,” said Carbon wrestling coach Dave Smith. “And our weakness is that we are all at the same level. Some kids have shown a good amount of improvement this year. Alex Collins, a J.V. wrestler, probably has the team’s best record. Another one working really hard to make himself better is Michael Tryon. The good thing about these two wrestlers is that they work to be coachable; they take the coaches’ advice.”
The meet got off to a great start for Carbon with a first-round pin by Justin Procarione wrestling in the 130-pound class. Brett Wells and Patrick Strey also succeeded in pinning their opponents in the first round. Out of eight wrestlers, five from the Carbon team defeated their opponents which helped to secure a victory for Carbon High’s J.V. team.
When the varsity started wrestling the competition was a little tougher. Kenny Davis started off the night with a win by forfeit earning six points for Carbon. Of the 13 varsity wrestlers, seven were victorious. Some highlights include first round pins by West Hunsaker, Jay Workman, and Tanner Herrick.
“Our team has had its ups and downs,” said Nick Deeter who has already made Academic All-State in wrestling. “We did well at the Delta Duels but this meet was not our best. We either came out flat or got too emotional and forgot what we were doing. But we have a young team so there is a lot to build on.”
As in every match there were some mistakes made.
“I was extremely frustrated on Wednesday,” said Smith. “We had the chance to win every match. The regional competition is coming up and if the guys want to go to state they need to eliminate the mistakes. We have the potential to take nearly every kid to state but they have to eliminate the mistakes.”
The next event for the Carbon High wrestling team is the region tournament on Feb. 3.