Garden City Buffalo wrestling has taken the main stage as they keep their streak of qualifying for state. The girls won again this year continuing from last year as the dominant team in the state. They have consistently made the top two teams for the last 4 years showing their dominance of the sport.
“We had a very good state tournament. Our kids wrestled really well, our boys took fourth and the girls went back to back state titles,” Paul Lappin, head wrestling coach, said.
Despite their recent creation the female buffs have made a name for themselves.
“Were about six or seven years into it,” Lappin said.
The buffs had about two weeks to prepare for the state championship.
“I really just did everything that I usually do, I kept my routine, ate everything right and just made sure that every day I practiced. The most thing that I did a little differently was focus on shots and re attacks,” Zach Long, Trade senior, said.
The girl buffs also had a similar time frame to prepare.
“We had a week where we did yoga and stretched out because we were really worn out. I also tried to have a good mindset throughout practice and to just keep practicing hard and not just go through the motions,” Nicole Arego, Health junior, said.
Making it to state is not as easy as it may sound.
“I really just had a good mindset and just told myself everyday that no one else is better than me cause I knew no one else was better than me at my weight. I just kept going hard at practice every day and doing the right things, like keeping on track of my grades, just getting to school, and not being lazy,” Long said.
One their way back, the wrestling team had a little crash.
“We just had a little accident on the way home, but thankfully everybody’s okay,” Lappin said.
The Garden City Community College has a new addition of a girls wrestling team.
“I think it’s amazing. I think it’s really good that they’re having it. They’re going to start girls, and maybe if we get an opportunity, they can have a boys team and that’d be really cool. I feel like we could build a really good team there,” Long said.
Abrego shares the same thoughts
“I think that it’s a really good opportunity. I think the JUCO would get more notice because of the wrestling team,” Abrego said.
