The 2022 boys wrestling season concluded the season with many new accolades. Two athletes, senior Nathaniel Cassius and sophomore Tyler Jones, participated in the State Championship on Feb. 17-19, where they were both knocked out in round one.
“The environment at State was so tense but overall was a great place to be and compete,” said Jones
The team accomplished a lot early in the season. On Dec. 1, the North community saw glimpses of success to come when freshmen Ian Delano and Aiden Carter, junior Montez Gear as well as Jones and Cassius all ended with positive winning records at the dual meet at West.
“The team was small, but we packed a punch. We placed first in some tournaments and two of us, Tyler Jones and I, had the chance to wrestle at States,” said Cassius.
The wrestling team started off with 12 participants, and the core four stuck together.
On Dec. 4, Gear came in first place in the 285 weight class at Affton Esbond Ford Invitational. Gear just missed out of the 220 weight class by only three pounds; he made North history by maintaining a record of 7-0. Cassius went on to win first place for the 195 weight class, going 6-0. Deleno also earned third place at the Invitational.
“The momentum the team had was unreal. The turning point was the Affton tournament. We all put in a great team effort, and ever since then, if things didn’t go our way we just rolled on, learned from it and were happy for the teammates who had things go their way,” said Cassius.
However, Gear suffered a spine injury and was then out for a month but returned on Jan. 4, immediately picking up a win and later finishing the season 10-2 in a highly competitive weight class.
For North’s first home meet on Dec. 10, the two soon-to-be State runner-ups exceeded expectations; Jones picked up two more wins and Cassius improved his record to 8-0.
With the good momentum continuing, on Dec. 11, 10 days after North’s match with West, the two met again along with 12 other schools. Both Jones and Cassius placed second in their respective weight classes. At the next meet, both wrestlers continued to place first yet again.
“It’s a good sport to get stronger physically and mentally. You learn strengths and weaknesses. My strengths are technique and leg strength and weaknesses are being under pressure in a close match,” said Jones.
Jones medaled at every meet he competed in and finished in third place in three of them (Chaminade, St. Clair and Hazelwood East). Cassius ended the regular season 30-5.
“Our expectations were to dominate in all aspects of the game. Our coach knew we could do that, so we had high expectations from the get-go,” said Cassius.