An interesting run for the wrestling team this year, this city-wide sport is showcasing two of many Doherty High competitors and captains, Jason Henry and Matthew Batista.
Making Doherty proud, the team is represented by Henry who is a junior and Batista, a sophomore. Behind their 13 meets and competitions as told by Batista, “In all of these, we have wrestled hard and smart as a team.” Having completed in yet another meet, the most important competition for them would be Sectionals that qualify them for states. Batista comments, “Everyone on the team is extremely excited and motivated for this meet.”
Putting in the work behind the mat, “Our practices are quite intense, lasting for a total of three hours, from 4:30 to 7:00 PM. We start off by running, led by our team captains, Matthew Batista, a sophomore, and Jason Henry, a junior. Then we warm up by jogging, stretching, and a little bit of sparring, getting our reps in. Next, we do live wrestling, followed by a water break, after which we are taught by our coach the technique of the day, which we then practice, followed by conditioning. Finally, at the end of our practice, we roll up our mats, followed by a run.” Preparing them for the competitions to come, every practice is gearing them up with strength mixed with IQ.
Jason Henry dives into the fact that Doherty no longer practices at Goddard Elementary school instead with the new building and program Doherty hosts its own practices. He reports, “We have several new guys and also a bunch of guys that stopped coming to practice an some got injured.” Speaking of injuries himself, he had tore his ACL last year and says how it was “devastating,” taking him out till September. With the factors of PT and lifting everyday, wrestling was a go-to once he got back on his feet. Proudly contributing, “So far my record this year is 32-9 compared to last year’s record before I got hurt which was 19-5. “An impressive feat, he adds, “I’ve been actually placing at tournaments with some 4th place finishes and I have my eyes on qualifying for the d2 state championship and hopefully placing there.”
An end goal all around, these two captains have put in the work. Impressive in itself is Batista as a sophomore captain, shining his light at Doherty the second year in a row. With Henry hoping to reach his goal, we look forward to seeing what they have in store in the next few years or upcoming seasons.
