This year, Oviedo’s wrestling team competed against Olympia High School for the annual senior night dual. Oviedo has 9 seniors for the 2023-2024 season, meaning a larger class is going to be leaving the team the following year.

Senior night is always a significant night of celebration for all of the hard work these senior athletes have gone through in their sport. The whole experience is distinguished, with a team tradition of dressing up in formal clothing to go to school and to walk down the mat with their parents while the coach announces a brief bio of what the seniors plan on doing after high school. These seniors were James Chiaradio, Luke Forsberg, Jesus Ramos, Mathew Buhl, Nick Rynearson, Clayton Mitchell, William Bronga, Conner Rodriguez, and Lukas Crawley.

First, there was one girl match at 170 with junior Hailey Mitchell getting a pin to win, generating momentum for the varsity boys to start their duals.

The duals started at 157, with Clayton Mitchell getting a technical fall, which is when you beat your opponent by 15 points or more. Next went Crawley at 165, which ended with a pin by the senior. The team continued with this pinning streak when Buhl got a pin at 175. Following that, Rynearson pinned his opponent at 190, junior Joey Gioia took a forfeit at 215, and junior Yosef Mohaisen pinned his opponent at heavyweight.

At this point, Oviedo had a significant lead on Olympia. Next, they went back to 106, where freshman Jimmy Godwin took a forfeit, and junior Joshua Sabbia got a pin to keep the lead going.

Following that at 120, Rodriguez won by a major decision. At 126, sophomore Douglas Dowda won by a technical fall. Then at 132, freshman James Lyons won by a pin. After that, Oviedo had to give up a forfeit at 138, and junior Caden Martz lost by pin at 144. In the final match of the dual, Oviedo ended the night off with the final win: Bronga pinning his opponent at 150.

“Our team has gone through a lot of stuff with injuries and people quitting, but tonight it didn’t look like it,” said senior James Chiaradio. “It looked like we wanted to win, like we were a real team. To me, that’s the most impressive thing; that our spirit hasn’t been diminished.”

Now the team is heading into the postseason, with districts being right around the corner on Feb. 14. Many wrestlers are preparing for their final tournaments of the season, and possibly of their wrestling career.

“I want to finish my senior year by winning my district, making it through my region, and placing in the state tournament to get my name up on the wall,” said Mitchell.

The 2023-2024 Oviedo wrestling senior night was a success for the Lions. All of the seniors won their matches, which led them to win the dual. Senior night brought smiles to the faces of many families of seniors, whose children grew up to the successful adults that they were that night.

“Take lessons from wrestling and apply it to your life,” said Coach Zachary Waters. “Realize failures are just as important as successes and usually there is a correlation from what you put into what you get out of anything.”