This season for the Lincoln wrestling team ended with a bang on February 28. Lincoln students Marco Farinola and Sophie Keefer competed at the state competition, with Keefer placing third.

During the season, Marco Farinola reserved a great amount of time and energy for wrestling.

“Putting in extra time at the workouts after school and going to extra practices really builds your cardio and stamina,” he said.

Although wrestling is not a team sport, the community and support that the team provides are vital to its student-athletes.

Along with the necessary amount of self-dedication, Farinola stresses that such importance can be placed upon the team in order to achieve individual success.

“Wrestling is an individual sport, but the team… is very important, because wrestling is tough and your team needs to be there when times are hard to pick the other wrestlers back up,” he said.

Wrestling coach John Farinola agrees that both individual training and support from the team are pivotal to success.

“‘Teamwork to make the dream work,’” he said. “A wrestler needs to have partners to push them beyond comfort and into and through stages of fatigue, be it mental or physical. The team is of the utmost importance to the success of the individual.”

At the 6A Wrestling State Championships, there was an abundance of support for the two competitors, and John Farinola was proud.

“The last two weeks of the season saw only two wrestlers qualify for the state tournament,” he said. “There were… 23 additional wrestlers in the room there only to support the success of the two competitors… This strong attendance at the end of the season proves that these athletes are connected to the success of their teammates.”

Marco Farinola felt this support at the competition.

“The team as a whole is a family and there being at all the matches and cheering really makes the wrestlers want to wrestle better,” he said.