Now that the wrestling season is coming to an end, the last and most important matches of the season are taking place. The boys sectionals that took place on Feb. 1 at Broad Ripple had 13 out of 14 of them qualifying for the regional tournament that is taking place on Feb. 8 at Perry Meridian.
One of those qualifiers is senior Christian Arberry, who is not new to the postseason hustle.
“I feel great,” Arberry said. “I am going for my third regional title. [It] feels great on winning one last year and one the year before, and coming off a sectional title this year it feels good, and [I’m] trying to and go on to semi-state feeling confident to get my second semi-state title.”
In previous years the boys wrestling team had many of their wrestlers advance to state with some of the boys placing in the state championship, and one of them, junior Waylon Cressell became state champion for his weight class last year.
Considering that the season is ending soon it will also be the seniors on the team's last chance to wrestle at their best and win a title for Warren.
The boys will also be facing new opponents on the mat that they will have to prepare themselves for and hope to beat in order to qualify for state if they hope to win a state title.
“We’re going to have to wrestle really well to win,” head wrestling coach Jacob O’Neill said. “We’ve won the last three years but it doesn’t seem like we’ve been able to fire on all cylinders this year. When we do, we're really good, so hopefully we can win as a team.”
While preparing for tournaments can be hard, some of the wrestlers have a plan in advance, like taking a moment to think to themselves, which can really help to calm someone's nerves if they are worried about a big event.
“Talking with yourself, that's all it is really, just letting yourself know you're a dog,” Cressell said.