Six wrestlers advanced to state from the Feb. 15-16 meet: Noah Gochberg (1st in the region) Matt Sanders, Luke Sloan (both 2nd  place finishers) Jason Foster, Remy Jacobs and Dane Wiest (4th place finishers).

“We made a huge jump this year from Region 4 to Region 2- the hardest region in the state of Texas,” junior and 2nd place finisher Luke Sloan said. “We were ready for it though, our team gets better and better every year and we went out there and fought hard against some good wrestlers.”

Many people come out to show the wrestling team their support, encouraging the boys to do their best.

“The atmosphere was pretty intense because we were in the toughest region in the state,” Sloan said. “The crowd would go crazy during some matches which is really cool to me because it shows how much they actually care and support the sport.”

This year the wrestling team has had more contestants qualify to state than previous years. They have prepared all year for this accomplishment.

“Our team works extremely hard the entire season, and it’s a long season,” Sloan said. “We take pride in outworking every team in the state. It is a big commitment too, almost every weekend there is a Friday or Saturday tournament we have to be at all day.”

This Friday and Saturday the boys will travel to Houston to compete at the state competition.

“We’ve been going hard all year. This week we’ve been preparing mentally to take on state,” Regional winner Noah Gochberg said. “Wrestling’s the type of sport where if you work hard enough anyone can be good; I really like that.”

Although the boys work hard and are focused on their goal of getting top ten in the state, they’ve also grown as a team throughout the season.

“Our team is super close this year, we have a lot of guys in the room constantly laughing and having a good time with each other and making it fun,” Sloan said. “It’s pretty cool when you get in a room and you can tell you share a common goal with the majority of the kids in there.”

Senior and second place finisher Matt Sanders reflects on his past season and all they have achieved so far.

“As one of the two seniors on the team, it’s been great to watch some of the younger guys develop and get better,” Sanders said. “I love getting to improve with the team and seeing our hard work play off.”

Good luck this weekend and go Vipers!