Senior Night ended with a loss against San Pasqual, 53-26, Jan. 29.
Captain Alexander Lam (12) said he focused on making intentional moves and preventing his opponents from pinning him down. The Russian Tie maneuver was a crucial technique, in which he did not succeed in, but attempted during his match. He used this maneuver to pace himself, the technique consisting of a two-on-one grip, where Lam utilized both of his hands to control one of his opponent’s arms.
“I [usually] have a hard time pacing myself and just dive into [the matches with] aggression, but this time I tried my best to go slower and crank up the intensity,” Lam said. “I tried different types of tactics, but hand fighting was mainly what I did.”
Lam eventually had to forfeit his first match because he had passed out. Although he had ended his Senior night with a loss, prior to his match he expressed his difficulty with pacing his energy throughout his playing time.
“I worked on controlling myself,” Lam said. “Learning how to be defensive but also preserving your energy at the same time is an important aspect.”
During Beck Lanier’s (12) 9-4 win, he performed an ankle pick for his first takedown in the third quarter. The ankle pick move is when he forced his opponent’s head down towards their knees and anchored his opponent’s heel to pin them to the home mat.
“I was down [on points], but then I got a takedown, in which I turned for four points and ended up coming back and winning,” Lanier said. “I’m very satisfied because I came back in front of my family and won.”
Since it was his last match, Lanier said he wanted to utilize skills that he had practiced over the years, like faking out and controlling his opponent’s movements, before planning for an eventual takedown.
“My mindset on this meet was, to show up for my team, and to just bring [on] the pressure,” Lanier said. “It’s my last home duel so I want to do the best that I possibly can. To improve, I wanted to focus on intensity and hand fighting. To do that, I did a lot of snap downs, collar ties, and a lot of fakes, and really just brought the energy to the match.”
Gabriel Rubin (12) said he had utilized more offensive strategies, his go-to move being to grab his opponent’s leg before they could move backwards. In order to play more offensively, he likes to use a technique to ensure his opponent will not move once pinned down.
“I like to use what’s called a cross face, where I use my forearm to twist my opponent’s face the other direction, which makes it extremely difficult for them to continue the match due to discomfort,” he said.
Despite the loss, as the last home game of the season, Lam said the memories they created as a team helped build friendships and community.
“The wrestling team built a great community,” Lam said. “It forces you to talk about the many struggles that you have, like weight cutting and just the intense conditioning that we have. It fosters a healthy community.”
Rubin said that maintaining a positive mindset can help wrestlers overcome their nerves.
“Something I learned is that you can’t look at rankings, and you have to believe in yourself at any cost necessary,” Rubin said. “Even if someone is projected to win, that doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen. You need to believe that you could win, see yourself winning, and chase your win onto the mat.”
