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In Lebanon, you’ll see the sights and hear the sounds of two very active wrestling teams.
“Pushing yourself harder in practice makes being on the mat 10 times easier,” said sophomore Ali Haiser.
“It’s all love, but we’ll get in there and fight in our [practice] matches,” said senior Colt Adkins
Through that hard work, the Yellowjackets will send 10 boys and eight girls to the state meet.
It’s one of highest combined totals in the state, giving both teams hope of winning team titles.
“I just want to make it count and get a state title, finally,” Colt said.
For him, that team title is one of two goals in mind after he finished as state-runner up individually last year.
“Just losing in the finals like that makes you wanna be back there,” Colt said. “The first time is scary, the second time makes you want to be back even more.”
His ambition is matched on the girls side, where Ali is dreaming big as she makes her first state trip.
“If I do win a state title, then next year I want to win another one and the year after that I want to win another one,” she said.
If those ambitions come true, it would only add to the Yellowjackets strong reputation.
“When they say Lebanon wrestling, they’re talking boys and girls, because they’re both powerhouses,” said Lebanon Boys Head Coach Randy Roark. “The girls won state two years ago, the boys got second last year and both of them [are] in the hunt this year for a title.”
It’s a run of success that grows with these teams facing some friendly competition from right across the hallway.
“This year was nice because the girls got to go first,” said Lebanon Girls Head Coach Matt Neely. “So we set the bar, so the boys are in here practicing going ‘oh boy, they got eight. Okay, we’ve got to beat that.”
And beat that, they did, but now these two teams will be simply rooting for each other.
“When it comes down to it, they’re supporting each other more than the competition,” Neely said.
Maybe that support will help bring both teams more state hardware.
