On the night of December 11, Lewis Wilson continued to build his legend, beating Ty Campbell of Redmond, who before the match was ranked number one in KingCo in the 285 lb weight division. Now Lewis Wilson is 5 – 0 and is unofficially ranked first in the 285 pound division. For years Garfield has never had a wrestler this good, and it sounds strange to put together the terms “star” and “Garfield Wrestling.”

“I feel like a target,” said Wilson, “I have to work harder to stay on top.”

Wilson isn’t the only impressive one on the mat thus far for the Bulldogs. Sophomores Cliff Rostomily and Andrew Bennett have picked up a few tough wins over Eastside schools.

“All the first year guys are impressive,” said Wilson, who is also a captain. “[Senior] Jordan Stevens is really strong.”

But even though the team’s record is 1 – 5, it is a breakthrough year. The way wrestling matches are scored heavily favor Eastside schools, who have hordes of experienced wrestlers.

But why now? Why of all times is Garfield showing immense talent on the wrestling mats?

“We’re tired of losing,” said Wilson. “We work harder as a team.”

As basic as that sounds, that’s a big part of the improvement. The other part is that this year’s team just has a lot more talent. Guys like Jordan Stevens and other first year wrestlers are athletic and strong but have never wrestled before.

Stevens goes for the instant pin. He says as soon as his matches start he goes for the pin in the first 15 seconds. Stevens’ method has been effective in certain matches, but has come back to haunt him if he doesn’t get a pin early on. This was the case against Redmond’s Tyler Black in which Stevens felt he should have won.

“I was way stronger and quicker than the guy, I was just so tired,” he said. “I couldn’t even stand up.”

The match lasted 2 minutes and 43 seconds. That’s the way it has been for first year wrestlers; trial and error. The majority of the team has to learn from their mistakes in matches, and make adjustments in their next matches.

Garfield’s one team win came against Juanita, an Eastside school. But they have a very rigorous schedule. They have already had three double duels. A double duel is when a team wrestle two schools in one night. Obviously that can tire a team out, and the fact that the team has been doing good in those types of situations is telling that they have good conditioning.

It’s an exciting time to be around the Garfield wrestling program. New words are being thrown around such as, “star”, “win”, and “hard work”. Garfield wrestlers are finding out that these words are there friends. There is serious optimism amidst the program.

This is a talented team and they are working harder than ever. The team’s next match is against Nathan Hale in a non-league battle. Co-captain Caleb Hecker is returning to the team from a dislocated knee-cap injury that sidelined him all the way back during football season. With Lewis Wilson’s extremely broad shoulders carrying the load, look for this team to continue to reach greater heights.