Wrestling is a tough sport. Wrestlers are pitted one-on-one, with the lone goal of taking down and pinning their opponents. A common misconception is the strongest, most brutal person will always win. While aggression can help in some situations, there is a lot of strategy, finesse, and skill that go into the sport. I have personally seen a heavyweight taken down by someone no more than 150lbs because he was simply a more skilled wrestler. The Seward Seahawks team is full of skilled wrestlers, and their season is off to a great start despite challenges along the way.

Out of all the sports at Seward High School, wrestling has had the most COVID-19 protocols. Every wrestler has to take two COVID tests every week, and be screened for practice every day. On top of that, they have to sanitize their equipment several times per practice, and keep wrestlers in cohorts, meaning they can only wrestle certain people in practice. They are required to wear masks for everything except live wrestling and competitions.

The season schedule is also a little different this year. The wrestlers have a total of twelve meets over the course of six weeks. The meets are smaller than a typical season, meaning they only get 1-2 matches per trip. In a normal year, the team would travel less times, but go to bigger meets where they would have 4-8 matches.

This weird year is Head Coach Andrew Scrivo’s first season as a head coach. While it is his first time as the lead coach, he has eight years of experience coaching wrestling. Coach Scrivo said, “It’s been fantastic. I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to set up and structure everything the way that I want to.” His structure seems to be working as the Seahawk wrestlers have seen a lot of success and improvement.

Junior Fayzon Lawrence has improved tremendously throughout this season. He started off with a 1-8 overall record. When Seward went to the Lancer Smith meet in Palmer, something clicked for him. He ended up placing second, and his record has improved to 7-10 since then. He is now ranked sixth in the state for his weight class. Junior Marcus Lastimosa, who also placed second at the Lancer Smith, is ranked third for the heavy weights. Freshman Nathan Hankins is ranked second, and Senior Jacob Wendt is ranked sixth for their respective weight classes.

This year’s team is young, and everyone has been improving. Jacob said, “It’s been a really good season. Everyone is committed.” That commitment is the reason all the wrestlers have improved so much this year. Jacob also had some advice for the younger wrestlers. He said, “Don’t be late to class, work hard, and listen to your seniors.” If the team follows that advice and stays committed, they should be competitive for years to come.

Roster:

Freshmen: Chloe Lastimosa, Nathan Hankins, John VanBuskirk, Landen DeRoos, 

Aami Brockman

Juniors: Kekoa Albino, Marcus Lastimosa,  Fayzon Lawrence

Seniors: Jacob Wendt, Collin Mullaly, Dylan Marcus