For the past three years the freshman team has met in the constricted space of room 35, but this year there is plenty of room for more.
This year’s group of freshman wrestlers consist of only five freshman, while a full wrestling roster consists of 16 different weight classes.

“It doesn’t make sense,” freshman coach Sean Fowler said. “We had a decent team last year and two years ago we were GAC champs. I don’t teach freshmen anymore so I lost that recruiting time, but I asked my freshman homeroom what the deal is and it seems showers were the problem.  They are afraid of showering at high school.”

With the freshman they have now, the team will simply practice after school as usual, but during the day they are all on a mission: find more freshmen.

“The coaches have us recruiting our friends and people at school,” freshman Dan Rosas said. “I have been just telling them that it is hard, you just have to be committed, but they say that wrestling is stupid.”

So far, they’ve been nothing but unsuccessful with their attempts to recruit wrestlers.

“A lot of people don’t like the sport,” freshman Jeremey Shell said. “I just tell them to try it. Don’t criticize it if you haven’t tried it.”

Although the team will have trouble as a whole, the size of the team will allow the coaches to focus more on the individual.

“We can focus on the individual which will increase the probability that they will be good wrestlers,” Fowler said. “As a team it will be impossible to win, even if we will win all of our individual matches and in a couple of years we won’t have a Varsity team in the future. A couple of years like this and our program will not sustain itself. It is really disappointing in my opinion because we have a pretty successful program. I don’t think we have gone a year since this school has been opened where we didn’t have a state placer.”

Participating as a freshman is not only important to the future of the program, but it also helps prepare the participants for their future.

“First if anyone wants to join the military they are going to have to get over the whole shower thing and high school is a chance to try things you may never be able to do in your life whether it be in the way of sports or something else,” Fowler said. “I feel a good amount of people are missing out on being good at something.  
“This school has produced state wrestlers that never knew anything about wrestling. I for one never knew anything about wrestling. I came out as a freshman and it’s come out as a positive influence on my life and I feel there are some people that have a chance to be good.”