Pawling wrestling finds continuous success despite youngest team in memory
PAWLING, N.Y. — In the past several years, our team has seen so many talented wrestlers come through our program. Jack Wrobel (2018 graduate) and Mason Watkins (2021 graduate) are the two most dedicated and experienced wrestlers I鈥檝e had the honor of coaching, and they continue to stay involved with the sport at the collegiate level.
Jack earned 130 wins in his high school career and has our team鈥檚 Overall Wins Record. He was named 2018 Section One Wrestler of the Year and was recruited to wrestle D1 at West Virginia University. He continued his collegiate wrestling career at RWU for whom he won first place in the NEWA Futures Tournament.
Mason entered the 100-win club for Pawling last year in a season shortened due to COVID-19. Mason won sectionals as a junior and would have likely been the first Pawling wrestler to win a state title in our team鈥檚 history had there been a NYS Championship tournament last year. Mason has continued to make the team proud as he currently wrestles D1 at Presbyterian College.
A giant part of both Jack and Mason鈥檚 success comes from the dedication and support of their families. Both the Wrobels and the Watkins have continued to be such a large part of the Pawling Wrestling community, and they have gone above and beyond to give their children a great experience. From organizing home tournaments to driving to practices hours away on weeknights, these families have shown this amazing ability to match their children鈥檚 enthusiasm and motivation for the sport of wrestling.
This year, we are fielding our youngest wrestling team in memory. The majority of our team consists of athletes from 8th to 10th grade. We don鈥檛 have a single senior wrestler, and we only have two juniors on our team. Despite our youth, we鈥檝e continued to surprise opponents this season.
In the Pawling Invitational Tournament on January 15th, our team entered six wrestlers into the tournament, and all six wrestlers earned medals in their weight classes. Kevin Panzer and David Villa took 1st place, Carter Wrobel and Aidan Soto finished in 2nd place, and Luke Amuso and Cesar Lopez won in consolation finals to earn 3rd place medals. We have a really energized team that is always motivated to put forth all their effort on the mat. The fact that we鈥檙e finding so much success with a young team is really exciting, and we鈥檙e looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish over the next few years.
If you have a child that is interested in wrestling, keep an eye out for our Youth Wrestling Program that we hope to continue through Pawling Recreation this spring!
This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.