Wrestling Progressing

By, Javin Martinez
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As the year ends, so do the sports that were active during the season. One of these sports is wrestling. Pueblo County High School is famous for wrestling as it’s produced state champions for a long time. The banners from our past wins are visible in the gym for all to see, what's noticeable is that they dominate most of the gym wall. 

Reyli Gonzales is a junior in wrestling, this is his second year playing the sport although that hasn’t stopped him from dominating the competition. As Reyli has had a pretty successful year, the question is how? How has he persevered through the competition? What was his toughest challenge? And how did it feel winning a competition his second year trying the sport? 

When asked how he perseveres through the competition Reyli had this to say, “To get through the competition I had a goal for every match, I would get ready and practice my moves I would be calm and focused. This was a big tournament so I knew that it wasn't going to be easy, but with what I learned in practice I was confident.” Obviously Reyli knew how to prepare for the competition, but what about his toughest challenge? Reyli said, “My toughest challenge was not giving up when I lost and that it was not over. When I lost, my first thought was to go for the next best thing and wrestle harder.” Although faced with incomparable odds Reyli managed to place seventh in second year of the sport, when asked how he felt, he responded, “I was very happy especially since it was my second year of wrestling, seeing my growth overtime made me realize that I can learn new things and inspired me to take on new challenges.” 

Reyli won seventh place in a wrestling tournament in his third year of high school. As wrestling is the most competitive sport in the county, it provides the wrestlers with motivation to improve and keep on winning competitions to potentially see their name on the wall. As Reyli looks forward to his senior year of high school he aims to potentially win his next competition earning a banner on the wall.


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