Whether battling with injuries and struggling to supply wrestlers for every weight class, the wrestling team hopes to conquer yet another season by winning the Cap-8, Mid-east Region and even the State Championships.

With the wrestling team’s record last year, competing at a high level at the State Championships is highly anticipated.
Senior Joey Hannum hopes to see the wrestling team be more focused this season.

“If we want to win our conference and go to the state tournament, then we need to start increasing our intensity at practice,” Hannum said.

Ironically, both Hannum and senior Sander Cypher came across wrestling as a result of lack of basketball skills.
“I started wrestling because I was bad at the first sport I played, baseball. I sucked at it. My parents knew this, so my dad suggested that I started wrestling because that was the sport he did when he was younger. I gave it a shot, found out that I liked it, and I’ve been wrestling ever since,” Hannum said.

Both Cypher and Hannum have been wrestlers all throughout high school. Being their final year, both wrestlers hope to be victorious at states.

“My goals for this season are to not get injured and to place at the state tournament in February,” Hannum said.

Hannum and Cypher’s wrestling careers are just beginning, and both wrestlers plan to wrestle in college.

“I’m currently being recruited by a couple of schools for wrestling. I’m not exactly sure where I will be attending yet, but I’m excited about the opportunities that I’m receiving because of wrestling and my academics,” Hannum said.

Cypher’s most significant asset to the team is his considerable strength for his weight class.

“Overall, everybody wrestles well. We have five or six kids that could go to states this year, which is better than most teams,” Cypher said.

In the recent WRAL tournament, Hannum came out on top.

“Out of all of my matches, I was only scored on by one of my opponents, which was who I was competing against in the finals. This year was actually the first time I won the tournament, so I’m pretty proud of that.” Hannum said.

Similarly, Cypher had a successful go at WRAL by getting second, his first and only loss this season. As the wrestling season comes to a close, Cypher reflects on the WRAL tournament.

“It gave me motivation to not lose anymore,” Cypher said.

For Hannum, the WRAL tournament allowed him to see where he was at compared to other wrestlers in the state.

Hannum said, “Being able to look back at my matches and understanding what moves worked well and what I need to work on will be very beneficial, too.”