On November 30, the Jefferson Wrestling Team hosted the Mustangs from Marquardt Middle School in the Jefferson Gymnasium. A crowd of students and families watched Jefferson win an exciting meet with a final team score of 60-35.
Jefferson Head Wrestling Coach Ben DiGiovanni said the student-athletes have been learning a lot about the sport and that this year’s team includes participants from each grade level (6th, 7th, 8th), boys and girls.
“It’s a great experience for our students to compete with other teams and fully participate as an interscholastic sport, as this was not possible when we were an intramural program,” said DiGiovanni.
Wrestling was first offered as an interscholastic sport last year, and this year’s team has 22 members.
Coach DiGiovanni was encouraged by the team’s performance against Marquardt.
“We had lots of first-time winners. Our wrestlers were using the moves they had been working on in practice, which worked in the match,” said DiGiovanni. “It’s good to see their hard work paying off.”
DiGiovanni noted that the wrestlers have been working on many areas of improvement.
“Wrestling is a tough sport that requires lots of hard work. Along with perseverance, our athletes are working on developing mental and physical toughness, self-confidence, sportsmanship and discipline.”
DiGiovanni believes these life skills will remain with the student-athletes to help not only on the wrestling mat but in all areas of life.
2023-24 Jefferson Wrestling Roster
Naushair Ali
Legend Alka
Nicolas Fuentes
Michael Jablonski
Jeramiah Jepson
Myles Monis
Daniel Ramirez
Karina Ramirez
Damian Velasquez
Lazeric Watkins
Heaven Brown
Lee Corgwell
Noah Corona
Julian De La Torre Nigro
Jaeden Flores Garcia
Caine Goress-Soto
Alianna Santos
Anthony Rodriguez
Sajjad Al Obaidi
Josh Polomo
Julian Rosario
Byron Velasquez
Coach DiGiovanni
Coach Johnson