With the loss of seniors the lineup of the men’s wrestling team is smaller and comprised of mostly lower-middle weights, which differs from previous years, and has affected tournaments.

Math teacher and head wrestling coach Dan Mosher has coached wrestling for fifteen years total and eleven years at Revere. Mosher explained how wrestling differs from other sports and how the one on one aspect affects the athlete.

“Wrestling is different from most sports in that it is an individual, one on one, competition. Wrestlers have no other teammates to hide behind when they are on the mat so it takes a lot of confidence to put yourself in that position. While wrestling is a very technical sport, it also requires great mental toughness. We try to instill that in our wrestlers by putting them in practice situations that test their will to keeping going, even when they feel tired or beaten,” Mosher said.

Mosher explained how wrestlers maintain their weight and how it affects the wrestlers eating habits. He also mentioned what happens when a wrestler cannot make their weight class.

“Wrestlers maintain their weight with healthy eating habits and regular exercise. Sometimes this requires them to sacrifice the foods they normally would enjoy eating the most but that sacrifice teaches great discipline. If wrestlers cannot make a weight class, they move up to the next weight class,” Mosher said.

Mosher discussed the different weight classes and mentioned which weight class majority of wrestlers fall in.

“There are fourteen high school weight classes: 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220 and 285. The middleweights of 145 and 152 tend to be the weights with the most kids from team to team because those are the weights that the majority of high school aged boys fall within,” Mosher said.

Mosher explained that wrestlers are taught to keep pushing and improving regardless of where they are in a match.

“Tournaments are typically double-elimination, meaning that you keep wrestling until you lose two matches. We don’t prepare for them any differently than we would a regular dual meet match. We try to teach our wrestlers to keep scoring points and improving their position wherever they find themselves during a match,” Moser said.

Mosher talked about the seniors from last year and explained they are missed, but that seniors leave eventually. He also discussed how when seniors leave each year the team is focused on rebuilding the younger wrestlers left.

“The seniors from last year were a solid group of kids with good work ethic and their experience is definitely missed.  However, graduation is always inevitable and we are now charged with rebuilding the younger wrestlers that are left in the program,” Mosher said.

Mosher also touched on how the different abilities of each wrestler pose a challenge.

“We have a wide range of abilities and experience levels on this year’s team, so it has been a challenge to meet the needs of every wrestler to help them best grow and develop,” Mosher said.

Senior Gavon Dengate talked about the start of the season and how the team had to get bearings before clicking.

“The season started off a little rough the team trying to get the bearings together I would say at this point in the season we’re finally finding our groove,” Dengate said.

Dengate explained that in wrestling while having the support of a team and people to encourage and push harder, it is about the wrestler as well, and the wrestler can achieve their goals and get glory with hard work.

“Wrestling is a sport where being a team matters, [but] at the same time you get your own glory based on your work with a team to support you and push harder every day,” Dengate said.

Senior Adam Smith explained how the loss of seniors has impacted the team and caused the new wrestlers to step up and aid in filling the positions.

“We lost a lot of seniors last year so we don’t have a full lineup, but a lot of individuals have been doing really well. The young guys are stepping up and the new wrestlers are learning fast,” Smith said.

Smith also mentioned that without the senior’s how many dual meets are won and the lineup has changed. He also explained that even though the seniors are not on the team anymore many still come back to help coach.

“To some degree, yes. Without them, we can’t win as many dual meets as a team. Some of them still come to practices to help coach, though. The biggest change seems like when I was a freshman, most of our lineup was in the upper-middle weights, but this is the first year most of our lineup is in the lower-middle weights,” Smith said.

Smith explained how tournaments differ from last year and that more individual tournaments occur this year than in the past. He also mentioned how the addition of two 2-day tournaments is difficult, due to the fact that potential state wrestlers attending.

“This year is different because we have fewer team tournaments and more individual tournaments. Also, in the regular season we typically have two 2-day tournaments, but this year we have four of them. These tournaments are more difficult because you can almost always find some kids with talent on the state-level and sometimes even the national level,” Smith said.

The team will compete at the sectional tournament at St. Vincent St. Mary High School on February 23.