Hun wrestlers finishing strong

Raiders head to states riding recent momentum

By: Bob Nuse
   Both Pete DiOrio and Edwin Garcia had the kind of freshman wrestling seasons for the Hun School that might have led them to start thinking about looking into another winter sport.
   But rather than see what life was like on the swim team or the fencing strip, DiOrio and Garcia stuck with wrestling and turned into the kind of people that signify what the Hun wrestling team is all about.
   "My freshman year I was 1-13 and my sophomore year I was 4-9," said DiOrio, a senior tri-captain for the Raiders along with Garcia and Pat Gallagher. "Then last year I was 18-9 and this year I’m going to have another winning record, which is what I wanted. I’ve been up and down this year, but I am happy with the progress that I’ve made."
   Garcia suffered through a similar freshman year. But, like DiOrio, couldn’t walk away from the sport until he had given it his best effort.
   "I remember my freshman year, I was terrible," Garcia said. "I think I might have won one match. But I’m glad I came back and kept doing it. It’s tough for us with the schools that we wrestle against, but I would definitely do it all over again. I think this year we have a pretty mentally strong team and I think those guys will be back next year. They’ve learned a lot this year."
   And what exactly is it that keeps them coming back, even as they struggle to win even one match?
   "We expected more of ourselves and we knew our records were going to improve," DiOrio said. "We knew it was going to take time, but we would not be satisfied until we got there. With the younger guys that we have on the team now, we try not to stress the winning and losing too much. The important thing is just to continue to improve and get better."
   DiOrio and Garcia have joined Gallagher in giving the Raiders the kind of leadership any coach wishes they had every year. On the Hun wrestling team, that kind of leadership has started to become a tradition.
   "They’ve both been wrestling for us for four years and they’ve done a real nice job, especially working with the younger kids," Hun coach Jim Nehlig said. "They’re both captains along with Pat Gallagher and they’ve all really worked well with the new kids that we have coming into the program. They all lead by example and it really helps our program to have guys like that.
   "It’s an added bonus that in addition to being good wrestlers themselves, they’re able to help bring along the other kids. They do a nice job pushing everybody in practice and leading by example. They work hard and the other kids really pick up on that. And they spend a lot of time with the younger kids, instructing them."
   As far as Garcia and DiOrio are concerned, helping the younger wrestlers comes with the territory when you’re one of the veterans on a young team.
   "Pete and I try to move around the weight classes a little bit and that way the freshmen aren’t always wrestling just against each other," said Garcia, who recorded a pin in his match on Saturday as the Raiders topped McCorristin, 49-30, for their second win of the season. "So we move up and down and try to work out with as many different people as possible. That way everyone gets experience.
   "We’re used to having a small team, so we appreciate it when the underclassmen come in and we do what we can to prepare them. We work a lot in practice making sure everyone goes at it hard. And the freshmen this year are doing a lot more outside of practice and I think they see the rewards in that."
   DiOrio remembers what it was like for him as a freshman, so he naturally looks to do whatever he can to help the current crop of newcomers.
   "The young guys are a lot of fun," said DiOrio, who also plays soccer and baseball at Hun. "It’s great to see the way they’ve all improved. In the beginning of the year you would see someone go out and get pinned in the first period. Now, they’re in there battling every match and doing real well. It’s great to know that they have worked hard and improved a lot and some of that is due to us.
   "When I was a freshman, there were not many juniors or seniors on the team. We were really young and the guys that I looked up to, like Chris Russo, Scott Wong and James Mackinson, they were only a year ahead of us. They were guys like us that hadn’t wrestled much before, but they worked hard and moved along."
   Like most wrestlers at Hun, DiOrio and Garcia came into the high school program with limited experience. But they learned from those ahead of them, and now are passing those lesions on to others.
   "I had wrestled in eighth grade, so when I came in as a freshman I had done it before," Garcia said. "I remember my freshman year we had seniors who would teach me what to do and that helped. I definitely feel like we’re doing better and that makes it good for the young guys. They know what to expect now because they have a little more experience than they did at the beginning of the season when it was all so new."
   "We do what we can," added DiOrio, who also recorded a pin in the win over McCorristin on Saturday. "We’ve accepted the fact that we only have certain things, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work as hard as we can to get better.
   "Hopefully the younger guys feel the same way we do and want to improve. I have a feeling most of them will stay with it."
   The Raiders, who are 2-10 after the win over McCorristin, close out the season with a home match today against Rutgers Prep, followed by the state prep tournament on Saturday at St. Benedict’s.
   With the likes of Peddie and Blair at the tournament, the Raiders are realistic enough to know a state championship is not on the horizon. But that doesn’t mean they won’t head there ready to give it their best shot.
   "We don’t expect to do that badly," Garcia said. "Peddie and Blair have already beaten everybody on our team except Todd (Rinaldo). But that doesn’t mean we can’t win a few matches and maybe take some third places. I think we’ll do OK."
   Spoken just like a wrestler who wasn’t about to give up after winning just one match his freshman year.