Early season wrestling tournaments like last weekend’s Northern Region Wrestling Classic can be the best of times or the worst of times.
For the champions and even some of the losers, it can be a great barometer for what a team and its wrestlers must improve upon during the course of the season since the 32-team field contained most of the grappling contenders in the Northern region public and private school ranks.
Others just want to make it through what can sometimes feel like a never-ending parade of wrestling, with those relegated to the consolation rounds battling through six and sometimes seven bouts before their tournament is complete.
Either way, judging from the expressions of the more than 430 wrestlers that competed in approximately 840 matches over two days at Fairfax High School it took a heavy toll on all of them.
“The hardest part is that it’s all just a mental battle,” said St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes senior Everett Epstein, who finished second in the 215-pound weight class. “But it’s the best feeling when you win in a situation like this because you came over another obstacle besides just the match.”
<b>TAKE A LOOK</b> at the schedule of events at this year’s tournament, which was won by Robinson High School, and it’s easy to see why some wrestlers simply get left in the dust as grueling bout after grueling bout takes place.
For most coaches and wrestlers the tournament actually began Thursday afternoon, when teams went through a final practice before Friday morning’s weigh-in. Head coaches then must head over to Fairfax for a three-hour seeding meeting Thursday night.
And since many coaches pull double duty as teachers at their respective schools, that meant the wee hours of Thursday night and Friday morning were spent devising lesson plans for a substitute teacher since weigh-ins were to take place at 7:30 a.m. Friday, and the tournament kicked off at 10 a.m.
The early rounds on Friday didn’t conclude until around midnight, which made the turnaround for a second round of 7:30 a.m. weigh-ins Saturday morning that much harder to wake up for. The finals of the heavyweight division didn’t end until after 8 p.m. Saturday night. That’s more than 50 hours of wrestling on the mind.
“There really is no rest for the weary,” said St. Stephen’s coach Joe Shabelski.
<b>EPSTEIN TOOK</b> an unconventional route in dealing with the onslaught of wrestling. Because his semi-final match win via pin over Robinson’s Sands Smith ended at noon Saturday and his finals bout against Annandale’s Victor Njomo wasn’t slated to begin until after 7 p.m. that night, Epstein decided to leave the gym altogether.
“I went to Tyson’s (Corner) and went to Barnes and Noble and just hung out there the rest of the time,” said Epstein, who added that he read and did his homework to pass the time.
He came back to Fairfax refreshed and rejuvenated for his finals match thanks to the change in scenery, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Njomo, who took the 215-pound crown with an 11-5 victory. It was Epstein’s fifth match in a little under 36 hours.
But afterwards a beaming Epstein showed few signs of fatigue. A year ago, the trials and tribulations of the demanding two-day set-up had gotten the best of him, ending in a disappointing eighth-place finish.
“This year I changed up what I was doing a little bit, and when you get results like this in the first tournament — especially a tournament that’s long and challenging like this one — it’s really rewarding,” he said.