Photo courtesy of Charla Shults
The Pampa Harvesters wrestling team started their season on Thursday afternoon with an impressive outing at their quad against Dumas, Borger and West Plains at West Texas in Stinnett.
“It went well,” Head Coach Ryan Pearson said. “Our seniors went 11-1 and we had a lot of success with our returners and some of our new faces got some experience, as
well.”
The Harvesters are looking to build on last year’s success, which saw Senior Robert Galvan be one win from a state appearance and Senior Joseph Coronado make huge strides toward a state appearance. Junior Jace Jones also made the Regional Tournament as an alternate.
“That’s what we are trying to do this year,” Pearson said. “We are trying to build on last year’s success. We have a lot of new faces and are trying to create a strong culture in them that’s not afraid to put it all on the line against anybody.”
Along with Galvan, Jones and Coronado, the Harvesters will also return Senior Brinley Cox, Senior Brooklyn Beebe, Junior Bianette Ortega, Junior Raidyn Brown and many others.
They will be joined by a big freshman class that includes Trip Wheeler, Chelslyn Rodriguez, Mason Mitchell, Colton Rose and others.
“It’s exciting to see,” Pearson said. “The other night at practice we had 38 kids there. Which is huge for us.”
The Harvesters’ District for wrestling is 5A and below so it includes all of the Amarillo ISD schools (Amarillo, Palo Duro, Caprock and Tascosa), Hereford, Dumas, Boys Ranch, Bushland, and Borger.
While there is always a non-district schedule to prepare programs for their District Event, wrestling is unique in that they could see some of their district opponents multiple times before the actual District Event.
“We see our district a lot,” Pearson said. “Every tournament we go to will have a huge variety of people. The Dumas Takedown will have a lot from our district and some from the district to the south of us. We go to that tournament every year. Randall Ruckus will probably be the biggest tournament we go to with about 30 teams there from all across the state and from Oklahoma, New Mexico and Kansas.”
There are a lot of pros and cons in seeing your district opponents multiple times.
“All of those (earlier match-ups) matter,” Pearson said. “You’re seeded based on how you compete against them. Your head-to-heads are really important. We have to stay on top of our district opponents when you’re there.
“It’s a little stressful. Also, the more times you wrestle someone, the harder it is to get after them. Now you’re more comfortable with them and have seen them. Nothing is a surprise anymore.”
Pearson said while it did help to go from a 12-team district to a nine-team district as Canyon ISD dropped to the Lubbock District, it doesn’t change how loaded the District is.
“Across the board there is not an easy team in the district,” Pearson said. “There’s going to be studs at every school, boys and girls. Most of our district will go to the state duals and show they are the top of the state for both 4A and 5A. It’s fun to see. That’s what we are trying to build to. Our kids don’t care; they see that, don’t back down, and compete.”
By the time this article comes out the Harvesters will have competed in the Dumas Takedown. Their next competition will be on Friday at the Borger Tri.
“I’m really proud of our senior group. We’ve talked a lot about leadership this year, and that has been our primary focus,” Pearson said. “They’ve shown a really strong leadership presence in the room and that benefits all levels of Harvester Wrestling. We talked about being in one of the toughest districts in the state and there are giants everywhere. They’ve done a good job of not backing down, being hungry for it and going to pick up their stones for each one of [those giants.]”