For most high school athletes, competing at the State Championship is a dream. On February 19-20th, 2016, the Portage Wrestling Team will be taking seven wrestlers to Bankers Life FieldHouse in Indianapolis in hopes to return home as team state champions.
This year, Colin Poynter, Giovanni Murillo and Chris Rumph will be wrestling at state for the first time and Ismael Cornejo, Steven Lawrence, Gaige Torres and Kasper McIntosh will be wrestling for their second or third time.
The team has been dreaming of a team state title since the season ended last February and has been working even harder to achieve this goal this week. Senior Steven Lawrence believes it’s too late to make any large changes before State, but to prepare, the team has been eating healthy and remaining focused until they wrestle.
Although many of them will be wrestling at state for the first time, they do not feel any more or less anxious because they are new. Sophomore Colin Poynter will be making his first appearance at state this year, but is not afraid of the big stage.
“I am treating it as just another tournament and I need to go out there and do my best and wrestle smart, if I do that I can see myself going far in the state if I go out there and wrestle tough,” said Poynter. “I am so close to beating those top ranked guys and I am beyond ready to go and show them what I can do.”
The team is proud to not only to prove themselves, but to represent their community.
“It feels good to be able to go down there and represent my team and school with my teammates, it always gets me nervous at first, but it goes away once everything starts.”, Cornejo said.
While each team is wrestling for his own individual state title, the team is excited for one another and is supporting one another.
“[My team] means a lot to me because a lot of them are young and it is been fun watching them grow as people and as wrestlers,” said Lawrence. “I also enjoy having success with them and winning matches with them as well.”
Most athletes would be nervous to compete at such a high level, but this team is excited to prove they belong amongst the best..
“We’ve put in the work, now it’s time to show what we do.” Lawrence said
Check @PortageSports and @PortageWrestlin on Twitter for updates on how the wrestlers are doing in the tournament.