GP Wrestling Team

This article by Lucy Darcy, tells about the Grants Pass High School Wrestling team and their experiences of the 2022 wrestling season.

GP WRESTLING TEAM

Article and Photos By Lucy Darcy

Grants Pass High school wrestlers have worked hard this 2021-2022 wrestling season, and many of them had the hopes of going to state. They have practiced every day; even when there was no school, they showed up. These wrestlers are also extremely supportive of their teammates, and love to show up and support each other.

The GPHS wrestlers headed to districts, and performed well. In the women’s division, GPHS junior Morgan Edwards has placed second in districts, and is going on to state. 13 wrestlers in the men’s division made it to state. The highest seeded wrestlers were as follows: sophomore Mark Astry seeded fourth, senior Ryan Johnson seeded second, and senior Dreyden Meyers seeded second, as well.

Head coach Ben Coulter feels like his wrestlers are his own children. He enjoys being around them, and he enjoys watching them learn their drive, and watching them work hard. He feels this way about them because he enjoyed being in wrestling from a young age, up until college, when he could not wrestle anymore due to an injury, and came to coach. He finds enjoyment in coaching the kids on the team, and watching them fail, and build themselves back up, and watching them get out there and wrestle hard over and over again. Coulter said that Dreyden Meyers especially stood out to him this season because he could tell that he was working hard, and was not going to quit, and he even broke some records.

Coulter says his wrestlers performed well, they had good leadership. They did a good job being competitive, and they went out there with a fierceness. He says they started the season a little rough, but he liked watching the kids progress throughout the season. Coulter’s favorite memory from this season was the Illinois Valley dual. Having half JV and half Varsity made a good match for the dual. Coulter says that it was interesting watching Cesar Ortese win it for them. He enjoyed watching the team enjoy his match, and that all of them were on the edge of the mat cheering him on, and then watching Ortese realize that he won the dual for his team was a good part of that night. He also just enjoyed watching the kids compete, and work hard for their teammates, and support each other.

Coulter thinks that, if he could improve on anything from this season, he would want more kids to stick it out and stay on the team for the whole season, because it leads to higher self-esteem. He wants them to know that they can finish something as hard as wrestling. Coulter’s favorite tournament was the Winter Kickoff home tournament, because it felt good to beat the other guys on home ground. He enjoyed beating Crater, and he enjoyed seeing them so early on in the season work hard to win.

Coulter says COVID has affected his wrestlers. That is why he lost so many kids; they might have been used to going home and not doing anything active, and that may have made them lazier. Districts are coming up soon, and Coulter says that he is feeling excited. Coulter believes that, if he can get the right guys, he could be in the top 16– maybe even the top four. Coulter thinks that it should be a fun state tournament, and should be a good one. He is excited about his girl, and says that she is staying positive, and putting in hard work during practice.

Mark Astry, a sophomore on the Grants Pass High School wrestling team, says that he likes all of his teammates and enjoys spending time with them during practice, working hard and sharing their laughs and victories at tournaments. Astry feels this way because he has wrestled with some of these kids for years and years before this season and reconnected with old teammates from last season.

Astry feels that, this season, the team has had a big success defeating many teams in duals and winning tournaments. New incoming wrestlers did well at adapting to the wrestling style and techniques. Veteran wrestlers got back in shape fast and refreshed their minds of wrestling moves and techniques. Astry feels like their season has been a success because wrestlers that attended morning practice had gone through tough practices. Conversely, some wrestlers did not attend because it was not mandatory, weeding out people who were not ready to work. Some wrestlers occasionally showed up to morning practice, but the strongest 5-6 wrestlers showed up every practice. Astry feels these wrestlers stick out the most in the mat room and at tournaments.

On Feb.18, 2022, the Grants Pass men’s wrestlers went to districts and did well. Head coach Coulter says that there were 13 champions. Everyone wrestled tough, and they succeeded. The team got second place, and Coulter said that he enjoyed watching them compete, and that everyone landed in good spots. Meyers and Johnson both earned second in their brackets, and Astry got fourth in his bracket. These were the highest rankings from the tournament. We wish the Grants Pass High School wrestlers luck as they head to state this weekend.

Page updated

Report abuse