At their first Tri-8 Conference Wrestling Dual, the Gators suffered a tough defeat. However, instead of treating this as a devastating loss, the team decided that this would be a chance to learn what they are good at and what they need to improve on.

Sophomore Darian King won his match in the 120 lbs weight class. We asked King how he felt about his win. He said, “I think I did well, but there are a lot of things I can do to improve my game. I’m working hard in practice every day to improve and be the best I can be.” To improve, he said he wanted to keep working hard in practice and perfect his technique for all of the moves Coach DeGeeter and Coach McNaughton teach the team. Finally, we asked about how he felt the first dual would benefit the team. He said, “I think this event benefited the team by teaching us that we have a lot of things to work on. If we work on them every day we can be great. Since the meet, I’ve noticed people on the team working harder and harder than ever, and I think that’s a great response to our loss on Wednesday.”

The Gators plan to keep up the hard work and improvement.