If you’ve ever watched Monday Night Raw, you probably have some idea what wrestling is all about. From Hulk Hogan to the “Rock”, the stereotypical wrestler is all brawn and no brains, but at Carlsbad, that is far from the truth. These student-athletes work hard both on and off the mat in order to compete at the highest level possible.

As the regular season comes to a close, a disappointing dual match record of 1-4 doesn’t tell the whole story of this fresh-faced team.

“We have a really young team but this year gave the younger guys a lot of experience to help them for future seasons” coach Ross O’brian said.

Despite the often large experience gap between many of the young Lancers and their opponents, the team never let themselves get intimidated.

“With only one senior and just a few juniors on the team, there was a pretty big learning curve,” senior captain Josh Jeetan said. “But physically we were there and could compete pretty well.”

Throughout the season the team practices every day, along with a morning run at 6 AM once a week. To top it off, the boys must follow a strict diet plan throughout the season to maintain their weight class for competitions.

“We’ve been improving constantly throughout the season by just wrestling and practicing everyday,” junior Owen Wiesel said.

For those unfamiliar with the wrestling point system, participants compete both individually in their weight class and for accumulative team points. If a wrestler places in the top seven for CIF, then they move onto the masters level, and then to the state competition.

“We’ve had someone go to state every year for the last ten years so that’s always a goal for this program” coach O’Brian said.

Josh Jeetan, Owen Weisel and Luis Torres continued the long legacy of success and will be competing in the masters tournament.  The boys hope to finish out their season strong and advance to the state level.