Sweat, grit, and pure will define wrestling next to early morning practice and late night duals.

Every match, every dual, every practice was a battle where the wrestler was pushed physically to their limit. For wrestling coach Joseph Schneider a successful wrestler was defied, not by physicality, but by the mentality of the wrestler.

“They have to be committed, have good responsibility and be coachable,” Schneider said. “It’s all those things about strength, technique and conditioning, but the biggest part of it all is their mindset. They need to go into matches knowing they can win and believe they can win.”

Schneider believed that what separated a good wrestler from a great wrestler was mentality. From the early morning practices that wrestling required before school to the practices after school that stretched into the evening, a strong mentality was the key to success.

Schneider even required wrestlers help clean the stands after home games during football season to instill discipline before the season started. Outside of the practices and routines, wrestlers were expected to sacrifice parts of their own lives to ensure success on the mat.

“The hardest part about being a wrestler is definitely weight management,” junior Aaron Jellison said. “Giving up going out to eat with everybody and having to choose healthier stuff over stuff you normally consume. Like not drinking soda, only drinking water, it’s definitely the hardest part.”

Wrestlers had to choose a weight to wrestle at which forced them to sustain their weight for duals. The coaches tracked every wrestler’s weight to ensure that they could wrestle at duals. Wrestlers must maintain their chosen weight in order to qualify and be eligible to wrestle at duals. Depending on their weight, they can fail to qualify for duals or may be required to lose water weight by sweating it off.

Because mentality was a significant aspect of the sport, the reflection process was unique to the individual athlete. Some dwelled in past matches while others anticipated future matches, but senior Destry Lujan lived in the present and focused on improving as a wrestler rather than focusing solely on his achievements and accolades.

“I try not to think about it and I just try to stay in the now and look forward,” Lujan said. “I can appreciate it (achievements) when it’s all over. Right now I’m just trying to build and so I don’t want to backslide and look at anything that I’ve done so far and feel achieved yet.”

The team qualified for dual state by winning district duals and beating Norman, Capital Hill and Deer Creek. The team looked onward to dual state in hopes of bringing home hardware to reward their efforts throughout the season. As a top eight team, they will face off against the top seven teams in the state at state duals.

“I think we’re in the right position to, hopefully, end the right way at the end of the season,” Schneider said. “We’re pushing a lot of guys to the state tournament and then get a lot of guys on the podium and bring back some hardware.”