Lights shine bright in the arena, the crowd’s cheers roar as sophomore Sophie Owensby squares off, the Bowie varsity wrestling team is ready for competition.
According to sophomore Devon Crowe, the Bowie Wrestling Team competes in one of the toughest 6A districts in the country, so competition is tough. They meet everyday for practice and train hard. Dustin Junk took on the role to be the assistant wrestling coach two years ago and has continued to lead the team ever since.
“Humility, respect, relentlessness, and competitiveness are super important for wrestling,” Junk said. “Humility and respect are essential in a sport where athletes are under such a pointed spotlight. Out on the mat, hundreds of athletes and spectators can see how our wrestlers treat their opponents, referees, coaches, and teammates; we expect that they conduct themselves in a way that reflects positively on themselves and their team at all times.”
According to Junk, varsity wrestlers have to carry good traits to be able to be a prominent athlete at Bowie. Although, JV wrestlers have a chance to be moved up to varsity throughout the season.
“Wrestlers are allowed to ‘wrestle-off’ for position. In a wrestle-off, two athletes wrestle a match, and the winner is chosen as the varsity athlete and for that weight class,” Junk said. “It’s coaches’ prerogative to determine who’s allowed to wrestle-off, but we stress friendly, constructive competitiveness and thus generally allow any athlete in good academic and personal standing to wrestle-off.”
Wrestlers are constantly moving throughout levels. However, Owensby says that strategy is a big part of being a consistent member of varsity.
“One thing I have been doing to be on varsity is I have been picking the right weight class,” Owensby said. “If I choose the right weight class, it eliminates the other people so I have a better chance to be on varsity.”
Weight classes play a big part in varsity decisions and picking the weight class strategically is key. However, even consistent varsity wrestlers don’t have a guaranteed position.
“The beauty of wrestling is that if there is a disagreement about who should represent the school in a varsity position, you can always wrestle for it,” Junk said. “We, unfortunately, have more varsity level wrestlers than varsity positions, but it would be nice if all of our wrestlers were able to compete at the varsity level.”
Although there still are wrestlers not quite at varsity level, the coaches continue to help everyone improve. Sophomore Devon Crowe is currently competing at a varsity level and continues to practice and learn new skills to help her be a better wrestler.
“The coaches have really helped me develop,” Crowe said. “They have helped me practice more moves that I struggled with.”
To excel on Bowie’s wrestling team, the coaches emphasize the importance of learning from mistakes and put effort into improving. The wrestlers should always have a growth mindset and be ready to develop.
“One thing we stress is that athletes should not try to ‘win’ practice. The goal should be to try new things, push yourself, and learn from failure,” Junk said. “We evaluate wrestlers that push themselves, physically and mentally, higher than those that stay in their comfort zone.”
Athletes put a lot of effort into practice which strengthens their chance to be on varsity. However, the wrestling team is a community and everyone is wanted regardless of skill level, according to Junk,
“We’re one team. JV and varsity wrestlers train together, compete together, and achieve together,” Junk said. “That being said, there can be quite the jump in intensity from the JV to varsity level. Having all our wrestlers practicing together prepares JV wrestlers for that jump.”
