Wrestling program has successful year

By Indra Sofian and Thomas Gilbert

        

Wrestling is the contact sport that is the ultimate test in strength and skill for both men and women. In order to win a wrestling match, you either pin your opponent or defeat him/her by earning more points.

 

A wrestling match consists of three rounds. The first round lasts two minutes, the second round lasts one minute, and the final round also lasts one minute. The Darlington wrestling team is full of young athletic men who accomplished many feats during the wrestling season.

 

The wrestling meets this year usually took place on Saturdays, and lasted throughout the entire day. There were usually 200 to 500 wrestlers in one tournament.

 

The 20 wrestlers on Darlington’s wrestling team entered many tournaments, but the ultimate tournament they competed in was the FCAA 2010 Regions Championship, held at Darlington. All the wrestlers tried hard, and in the end four wrestlers from Darlington won the regions championship. Thomas Gilbert won the 152 lb. weight class, Andrew Williams won the 170 lb. weight class, Jordan Beck won the 118 lb. weight class, and Jule Peek won the 103 lb. weight class. Darlington also had many other wrestlers place in the top five in FCCA Regions Championship.

 

The Middle School wrestlers said that they would not have accomplished this without Coach Smith’s help. They said he was an inspiring coach who gave each wrestler on the team encouragement and made sure every wrestler received mat time. He has also done a great job in preparing the wrestlers for the varsity wrestling team.