As the Lane wrestling team finished going head to head with the city’s best and taking 4th place as a team at City Championships, they were able to bring back more than just a couple bruises. City results would be concluded by Kaiden Friedrich, Div. 752, taking 2nd place at 126 pounds, Sean Murphy, Div. 852, taking 3rd at 138 pounds, and Jeremiah Olojo, Div. 759, taking 3rd place in the heavyweight division at 285 pounds. Wrestlers said they left City with the experience needed for their upcoming meets — most importantly, Sectionals. They understood that there is no slowing down in wrestling, but only continuing and improving yourself every day you possibly can. The wrestlers saw City Championships as preparation for Regionals on Feb. 6.

“Practice is the most important aspect of it,” Olojo said. “The matches are just another form of practice.”

Winning was not the main focus for the team as they learned from previous mistakes. Although Murphy had high expectations on the outcome at city, he said was able to learn from the important fundamentals of his competition and knows how much harder he has to work in practice.

“Taking third helped show what I need to work on and improve my matches, and that gives me the possibility to get better, as far as what I expected at this point,” he said. “My expectations are more set on regionals, sectionals and state. I did think I would win city; now I know I have to work harder.”

With their coaches’ help, the team is focusing on constant improvement. Part of this comes as the team reviews previous matches of opponents they may face again.

“I learn from every loss I take, and now I will never make those mistakes again. I am pretty aggravated about it, and so now I got something motivating me to get better and work harder,” Friedrich said.

Although the City Championships did not end in the victory that the team had hoped for, they used it as a lesson to refocus. It also helped to motivate the wrestlers as they realized that the season could be ending sooner than they wanted.

“I knew that if I didn’t do well, my season would be all over. And I wasn’t ready for that to happen,” Olojo said.

Preparation for Regionals was not only about practicing their strengths, but also improving what they had done at City. In moving forward with their season, there was no room to focus on mistakes, but only to set new goals.

“For Regionals I plan on completely dominating the competition and coming out on top. The ultimate goal is to qualify for state. When I get to state, I’ll wrestle to my fullest ability,” Olojo said.

On a team with no seniors, not only is leadership left to underclassmen, but the athletes must face more experienced opponents. However, this does nothing to discourage the team as they take on the responsibility throughout the season, according to Jefferey Cen, Div. 753. “This doesn’t have any effect since there are more of us to pick up the work. Either way we wrestlers need to step up our skill and strength to carry the team whole,” he said.

This mindset has not only encouraged but influenced the success the team experienced at Regionals. Sean Murphy at 138 pounds, Kaiden Friedrich at 126 pounds, and Jon Starr, Div. 761, at 170 pounds, all received fourth place, and Jeremiah Olojo finished in 1st place in 285 pounds. Success was short-lived in the minds of the young athletes as they hoped to achieve more with their season. Realizing that they still had more time to work in the future, the team found a new motivation.

“At first, I was upset. I thought that the whole season’s work was for nothing,” Murphy said. “But I had a long talk with the coaches and I realized that it’s OK. I have a couple years left to get where I need to be.”

For Lane’s wrestling team, there may not always be a time to win, but there is always time to learn.