With the start of winter sports comes the co-ed wrestling team, under the leadership of first-year head coach Dan Peterson.
Last year wrestling reached new heights, with former senior AJ Richter becoming one of the first Woodside wrestlers in years to go to state competitions. Wrestlers this year hope to replicate, or even surpass, their success from last year.
“My goal is to get in a higher-weight class,” Freshman wrestler Peter Jasinskyj said. “And another goal is to probably learn new skills on wrestling techniques.”
While the wrestling team has yet to have their first match, practices, involving a mixture of actual wrestling, laps, and working out in the weight-lifting room have started.
“The average practice is a bunch of conditioning from the start and then we start doing drills,” Junior and wrestling captain Celeste Ayala said. “At the end of every practice, we have a match with our partners. Practices usually last about an hour or two hours, and it’s really hard work; we only take one water break.”
The wrestling team is currently in the Ocean division, with their first competition, the PAL Novice Tournament, on January 17, against South San Francisco.
“Last year, I made it to the second day of the Central Coast Section tournament, which is really hard, especially [since] I was a sophomore last year,” Ayala said. “A goal for everybody is to make and pass the novice [tournament].”
