The competition is down, and only two rounds remain for both Nick Barker ’14 and Shane Ross ’15. As the days wind down, few wrestlers remain, but both Jesuit athletes are still going strong. Their opponents are formidable, but both are confident, knowing that they have the potential to be the best.
On February 15, 2014, Varsity wrestlers Nick Barker and Shane Ross placed fourth and second respectively in the UIL State Wrestling Tournament.
Nick placed fourth in the 120 pound category, and Shane placed second in the 126 pound category. Both wrestlers went to the tournament last year; however, they performed significantly better this year, displaying their growth as wrestlers. Commenting on their progress, Head Coach Ryan Menard had this to say: “Their progress is significant.”
In the final round of the state tournament, Shane wrestled William Homalon of Morton Ranch. A close match up until the very end, Shane attacked aggressively; however, near the end of the match, Homalon took advantage of a small opening and was able to counter and turn the fight around. In Shane’s own words, “I was really offensive and he just caught me.” Despite this loss, Shane still placed second.
Due to his success, Shane has been invited to the National Competition. The only issue is that he was sick for an entire week and lost precious preparation time. That being said, Shane still wants to go to the tournament, which will be held March 28-30 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.
Although nobody is sure yet how many competitors will show up, Shane estimated that the brackets could be as big as 64 guys each. That’s certainly reasonable, considering 552 wrestlers competed for the top title last year.
As Shane prepares for this last tournament, the rest of the wrestling team is preparing to shift to the freestyle season. This means that it’s an excellent time for students to give wrestling a shot. Coach Menard highly encourages anyone interested to “come down to the wrestling room” if they have the chance.
