Having concluded their regular season with a 15-8 record, the boy’s varsity wrestling team has been conditioning in line for their upcoming sectional tournament on Sunday. Sectionals will take place at 9 a.m., hosted by East Chicago High School. In comparison to regular season training, junior Victor Guaramato reflects on the intensity of conditioning in preparation for the state series.

“How the team’s being preparing for sectionals is not easy. Even our coaches said it wasn’t gonna be easy,” he said. “Practice has been getting harder with a lot more live matches and conditioning than usual.”

To prepare himself for the upcoming meet, Guaramato has taken the role of both a mentor and a mentee with his wrestling peers.

“During live matches where after each match we would have to find a different partner to wrestle, I either try to go with a varsity wrestler a lot better than me or go with a varsity wrestler that is around 1 to 2 weight classes below me,” Guaramato said. “I try to push them during our live matches.”

In comparison to a regular season dual where players only compete in one or two matches, sectionals are conducted by a series of various brackets, resulting in a possible three to four matches per player. For junior Nash Burke, his training for sectionals focuses on his mental stamina.

“For sectionals, I have to prepare myself for almost an entire day of wrestling matches so I have to refuel and prepare myself mentally before each match,” Burke said. “When I have multiple matches, I just have to convince myself to wrestle to my best capacity each time and try not to die out during my match.”