In good condition

Published 8:30 am Thursday, January 26, 2012

As Southeast Whitfield wrestlers huff and puff through a hallway at the high school, down steps, back up steps and back through the hallway, they would all say the atmosphere and mentality among the team is better than last year.

And as they prepare for next week’s Area 7-3A traditional tournament, set for Feb. 3-4 at Allatoona, Southeast coach Michael Herndon believes the win-loss record and the Raiders’ results at the Area 7-3A duals tournament don’t tell the whole story of how far the team has come.

Last season, the team finished with a 30-9 record and took fifth at area duals. This season, they’re 18-9 and finished in the same spot at area duals earlier this month.

But Herndon, who is in his first year as head coach, points to a tougher schedule and a heartbreaking loss at area duals. The Raiders were in a battle earlier this month with two-time defending Class 3A duals and traditional state champion Gilmer at the second day of Area 7-3A duals at Heritage-Catoosa, and while the Bobcats escaped with a 42-32 win, Herndon believes his Raiders hung tough.

However, he also believes the loss stuck with the Raiders at the tournament and “deflated” them the rest of the way. They lost to what Herndon called a “really good” Allatoona team 47-22 to place fifth.

“We’re hoping at traditionals to rise above those teams,” Herndon said, noting he pushes his wrestlers by staying positive. “I’ll get on them, but for the most part it’s being positive. I think that’s a big part of wrestling, having that confidence, knowing you could’ve won that match if you just did one thing different.”

It won’t be easy with teams like Gilmer and Heritage — who were first and second, respectively, at Class 3A state duals this season and last — in Southeast’s area, but going against tough competition only has made the Raiders better.

“Coach Herndon, he wanted us to go out there and have tough opponents and hard tournaments,” senior 170-pounder Edgar Federico said.

And watching the team members run up and down the hallway is a testament to how much conditioning is stressed this year compared to past seasons.

“Conditioning-wise, we do a lot more,” Federico said, noting it translates to practicing harder on the mat. “We practice how we want to wrestle.”

Said senior 182-pounder Austin Stafford, “This is the most conditioned we’ve ever been.”

Herndon, who was an assistant last season, said the effort given in practice is much better; last year, he said, some wrestlers would even cut corners while conditioning.

“When we ran last year, they would kind of sneak in the hallway and maybe hide out for a little while,” Herndon said.

He said the leadership for this year’s Raiders is great, and the team as a whole is much more “mentally tough.”

“We’re winning the close matches,” he said. “Last year, if we were down by a point or two, we’d probably lose those matches. But we’re winning these close matches.”

While the team is “a lot closer” and better, Stafford said, traditional tournaments are mostly about the individual. Herndon stressed to the Raiders for everyone to push themselves to achieve individual accomplishments, and he hopes to get at least six wrestlers advanced from area and sectional events to the state tournament.

This goal is different from past years, Frederico said, when usually only “one or two” guys advanced to state.

One of the wrestlers hoping to make it is Stafford, who hopes to finish strong in a final season highlighted by major steps forward.

“I’ve improved a lot,” he said. “I went from a losing record last year to a winning record this year.”

Herndon doesn’t want the success to end with this season and the senior class. He believes the Raiders are built for a good future under his leadership and assistants Barry Brock, Allen Jackson and David Self. Herndon pointed out sophomore Austin Allen (160), who has won 25 matches, and freshman Omar Ruiz (106), who has tallied 37 victories, as two wrestlers already turning potential into success.

“(Ruiz) is unbelievable,” Herndon said. “By the time he gets older, hopefully he’s a state champion, if not a multiple-time state champion.”