In the meet that determined the rest of the wrestling season, three seniors were celebrated for their effort. Brenda Jasmine, the only senior on the girls team, Josh Waltrip, and Bradley Eldredge all received flowers for their hard work in the wrestling program.
Livingston was one of the toughest teams Ripon has faced and they had to put up a fight to win. Jasmine luckily had a forfeit, leaving her with the win. Waltrip went into overtime against his opponent, ending with his unfortunate loss. However, a disappointed Eldredge was forced to watch from the sidelines due to his dislocated kneecap.
Eldredge has been wrestling since third grade, but due to consistent injuries in the sport, his high school career had a few hitches. Since being awarded the position of team captain in his sophomore year, Eldredge was forced to become a leader who his teammates could look up to. “I feel like it forced me to grow up. Being a captain as a sophomore while there were seniors on the team was a shock and it made me realize I had to be more of a leader than I normally would be,” Eldredge says.
Where some wrestlers struggled, junior Trinity Diaz put her full force into her match, ending in her victory. Within the first seconds of the match, Diaz had her opponent pinned, but because of her tight grip, the other girl claimed she was hurt. The referee had to pause the match in order to check up on Diaz’s opponent. “I was a little bit irritated because it seemed like she started to pretend to be injured. At the same time, I felt like I needed to keep going,” Diaz says.
After a much needed win, the audience’s energy was high for the following matches. Though Ripon lost against Livingston at the meet, they fought hard and had several intense showdowns. Eldredge states, “I felt disappointed I wasn’t able to be out there, but I still felt proud of them.”
