Coming off of a fifth place finish out of 26 teams in the Tournament of Champions on Friday, Jan. 6 and Saturday, Jan. 7, the varsity wrestling team defeated Timber 41-31 in the Home Brawl the week before.

Seniors Christian Gomez and Malik Silva led the team, as Silva pinned his opponent in only 25 seconds, and Gomez sealed the win with a 13-4 victory over his opponent in the 285-pound weight class match.

“I felt like this match was going to be a piece of cake from the start,” Gomez said. “[Timber Creek] has a couple of good guys, but our guys are better, so there was nothing to worry about.”

Although Gomez thought his matchup was easy, junior Oliver Hart had a rough night, as he faced the seventh overall wrestler in the 152-pound weight class in the state.

“I was feeling pretty confident coming in, but it was tough in the end,” Hart said. “All that matters is coming out on top as a team and we accomplished that.”

Even though the team and Timber Creek are in different districts, this will not be the last time these two meet, as they will face against each other in the Seminole Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Winter Springs High School.

“The team worked hard to prepare for this dual,” Diaz said.  “There are several athletes from both teams that will probably be competing in the state tournament at the end of the season, so we should see this same intensity again.”

Diaz hopes to send more than the ten that were sent last season to the regional playoffs. However, the team would need to win the district by defeating district-rival Winter Springs in the district finals, which has not happened since 2012.

“For the past five years Winter Springs has always won the district, but we believe that will change this year,” Hart said. “There’s still a lot more ground to gain, but we have been improving greatly.”

The team competes in the Milton-Winter Memorial Friday, Jan. 13 and Saturday, Jan. 14 at St. Cloud High School.

“This season, the team has become more unified,” Diaz said. “We have guys working together and supporting each other to reach their personal goals, which will ultimately lead to us achieving our team goals.”