Two accomplished wrestlers, junior Benjamin Green and senior Jakob Martin, traveled to Madison for the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament from Feb. 26-28. Having a successful season so far, Green with a record of 38-6 and Martin with 39-4, they were set to dominate through their brackets. They put forth their best effort, but ultimately ending up with more losses than wins. After state, their official seasonal scores changed to 38-8 (Green) and 40-6 (Martin).
“It’s a 16-man bracket, but there were only 14 people who all qualified for state. The number one and two seeds get byes first round, so they don’t wrestle until the quarter finals. I was the tenth seed, and I had my first match against the seventh seed,” Green said. “I lost the first match, and I wasn’t really proud of how I performed. I went into it pretty sick. Anything can affect competition, but it’s still a loss.”
On the upside, Martin won his initial match, sending him further into the competition, and allowing him to face other skilled rivals.
“At state, I was able to win my first match, which put me against the number one seed who went on to win state. I had a good battle against him, but lost. I was then put into the “losers’ bracket” where I faced an opponent of similar skill level to me,” Martin said. “I had a very good match against him and got caught in the final 15 seconds of the second round, due to my mistakes, which cost me the match and kicked me out of the running. I got ninth seed, which wasn’t the best; it put me in the hardest position to succeed.”
The sport of wrestling is something that Green and Martin have worked extremely hard to polish and excel in, and have for the majority of their lives. Their passion fuels their athleticism, which results in them coming back season after season.
“They have the drive to want to be successful in the sport. Wrestling is a very physically and mentally tough sport, but they desire to win and work hard. That transfers into their success on the mat,” Head Coach Beau Yineman said.
Though Green and Martin are successful individually, both the boys’ and girls’ teams have come across their own accomplishments this season.
“There are many moments throughout the season that stand out to me. Just a few would be: Brycen Davis winning his first matches of the season, seeing Malachi (Kasuboski), Ben, and Jakob win conference titles, Sarah Majeski winning her first match, and building relationships with the athletes during practice and competitions,” Yineman said.
Both state wrestlers are high achievers, and by having high standards set for themselves, they’re able to advance and triumph continuously.
“I push myself so hard in and out of the wrestling room because I’ve set goals for myself and I love to hit my goals, even when they are high. For example, since freshman year, I’ve wanted to be a four-time conference champion. I was able to secure my fourth title this year,” Martin said. “I’ve done wrestling my whole life, and I have a lot of supporters that look up to me that are younger and older, who I want to try my absolute hardest for.”
While Martin may be closing the wrestling chapter of his high school career, Green still has one more year to set and accomplish goals.
“Wrestling is just a really large part of my life now, which I think is why I continue to get better. I really think going to state this year kind of made me love the sport more again,” Green said.
Although Green and Martin may have lost at state, that hardship can easily turn into a chance to grow and progress in their skills.
“Typically, when I lose, I don’t take it to heart; I take it more as a learning experience. In middle school, when I went to state in seventh grade, I went 0-2 as well. I think from that point on, it made me realize I actually was good enough to be at the top if I applied myself. The next year, I placed at state,” Green said. “I think that after going to state and being on top, I realized I deserved to be there.”
