Hannah Styles
hstyles@thesmokymountaintimes.com
Over the weekend, the Maroon Devils wrestling team traveled to Asheville for the Great Smoky Mountain Grapple at Harrah’s Cherokee Center. Out of 29 teams, Swain finished 9th and Head Coach Adam Jaimez said he is very proud of the team.
Varsity Boys
Kale Stephenson (106) finished 2nd, Gabe Lillard (170) placed 4th, Tyce Neadeau (Hwt) 4th and Adam Cotterman (138) 5th.
“They battled and fought with the courage that they will need to become successful young men once wrestling is gone from their lives. Kale stepped up as a freshman and had a great tournament, he pushed nerves to the side and believed in himself and just wrestled his way to the finals. I know that we may have finished 2nd, but I believe he will use the weekend to propel himself to a great run. The rest of the guys wrestled their way back as far as they could,” Coach Jaimez said.
Coach Jaimez said the team did a great job but does have some more work to do.
“I’m very fortunate to have guys that believe in the vision we have for our program and that they are willing to fight for it alongside us as coaches for it. A lot of lessons learned this weekend, lessons like sometimes we are not good enough at the moment, but that does not mean it will stay that way. That is for us to decide and make ourselves better for when the next opportunity presents itself to us. They were a host of others lessons, but all in all; our kids did the best they could do. Now we pick ourselves up and get better.”
Varsity Girls
Tasia Neadeau (138) was 1st, Annasetter Cooper (195) 1st, Emmy Everhardt (132) was 2nd, and Isabel Lambert (126) was 4th. The girls finished 3rd out of 21 other teams.
“Our girls are getting better with each outing and they are making themselves vulnerable to the process of being the best that they can be. That process is sometimes a painful one, but they know they are never alone throughout that process,” Coach Jaimez said.
“We, as coaches, are right there with them. We know our success is the shared success of a lot of other people ( parents, administrators, AD’s support, etc.). So thank you to everyone that continues to sport this new sport of ours.”
junior Varsity
Noah Rowe (113) was 1st, John Parton (126) 1st, Revis Robinson (126) was 2nd, Shaun Durham (132) 4th, Austin Jenkins (138) 4th, Carter Hayes (170) 2nd, and Matt Ferguson (182) finished 3rd.
“We had a great opportunity to wrestle all of our kids at one spot and we took full advantage of it. We had some kids wrestling in the JV’s tournament and we have several placers on that side,” Coach Jaimez said. “It was great to see all of our kids wrestling this weekend, it was a long weekend, but it was a great experience for everyone involved with it. Thank you to everyone for the support again and thank you to my fellow coaches; I couldn’t do what I do without them!”