The wrestling team’s recent loss was not stemmed from solely a lack of competence by the team, but it nonetheless highlighted ways they can improve.

Bullitt East was beaten by Taylor County High School on Jan. 9 by a score of 43-35. Of the fourteen competitors representing Bullitt East in the match, only eight of them won against their opponents, those people including Tucker Wells, Matthew Hendricks, Sean Lohden, Patrick Netherton, Jakob Jones, James Nash and Austin Kyser. Although the team was not successful as a whole, individual members like James Nash, Patrick Netherton, Tucker Wells and Sean Lohden demonstrated their ongoing success in this competition after having placed in individual tournaments recently.

However, even before any team member had the opportunity to compete, Bullitt East was already behind by 18 points due to forfeits and there being a lack of competitors to wrestle in three weight classes on the team. The lack of competitors on the team was caused by some having quitted recently because of the great amount of commitment the sport requires and one in the heavyweight class having been injured and therefore unable to compete.

Tom Wells, the wrestling coach, was not surprised at the outcome of this match due to these reasons in addition to Taylor County having a few state ranked people on their team, an honorable yet threatening achievement Bullitt East does not nor has ever had even with it being the team’s goal each season. Although Wells sees the potential in his team and recognizes how hard they have been working to improve, they were realistically at a disadvantage for this competition for multiple reasons even being as prepared as they were. “That [the forfeits and lack of wrestlers for three weight classes] is tough to overcome for any team,” said Wells.

Despite this predicted failure, the team will continue to work as hard as they have been since the beginning of the season to grow as wrestlers. Losses like this one are not completely defeating in that they serve to motivate wrestlers to avoid making the mistakes they made during those competitions in the future. Even after successful competitions, the coaches inform each wrestler of the ways they personally can improve. All of these efforts to improve the skill of each individual member advance the team towards their ultimate annual goal, which is for one of the team members to become a Regional Champion and/or State place winner.

“[They were] very prepared and the team is working their tails off to get in better shape and improve their moves and technique. Practices have been getting better with more intense effort each week by all wrestlers,” said Wells. There are many opportunities left for the team to prepare for this goal as there are many competitions left in the season, including weekend tournaments and weekday dual meets that will be beneficial for when Regions and State are held in February.