Blair falls to Magruder

DEC. 15, NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM-

The varsity wrestling team lost to Magruder tonight, 12-72. Many Blazers athletes were overwhelmed by the strength and skill of the Magruder wrestlers and disappointed by tonight's results.

Twelve out of the 14 matches were determined by pin. Unfortunately for the Blazers, ten of the pins were made by Magruder wrestlers. Although the Blazers put much energy into each of their matches, the majority of them were pinned in their first period.

The only two Blair victors were juniors Patrick Lao (103) and Jean Ulysse (160), both of whom participated in a strenuous tournament only a few days before. Lao made his pin in 2:45 and Ulysse won in 3:17.

Because of their inability to fill the spot, the Blazers forfeited the 112-lb weight class. The other misfortune came in the form of four consecutive calls for "locking hands,” causing the Blazer who made the fouls to get disqualified even though he had an obvious strength advantage over and an almost guaranteed pin in store for his opponent. He later chuckled that the first three calls were justified but the last one, called after he rammed into his opponent with arms spread, was debatable.

The strengths and weaknesses of the Blazers were shown to be individual to each of the athletes, but captain Andrew Wallis, a senior, boiled everything down to "inexperience and wanting to win.” He explained that it was advantageous for the Blazers to face one of their most experienced opponents early in the season so they know what to watch out for and improve on the most. "I wasn't mentally prepared today,” Wallis said, starting to explain the lack of desire he believed he needed to win his match. "We didn't want to win as much as much as they did. We need to get some heart.”

Some Blazers were so discouraged by their performance today that they declined to speak of their matches and sent a message through Wallis that "they will talk to [Silver Chips] the next time we win.” Wallis presented a message of his own; "We were a top-notch team [the last few years]. We need to get back to that. We are going to get back to that.”

The wrestling team will next face Sherwood and Springbrook at Springbrook on December 18 at 1:00 p.m.