Thursday, January 28th, was an important day in Saint Stephen’s athletic history. The Saint Stephen’s Wrestling team held their first ever home wrestling match. Never before has the school had the prerequisites to hold an official match (such as an official wrestling mat, wrestling clocks, or the financial backing to have a home match.) A total of six teams arrived at the Hoagland Arena to participate in the special event. The teams included Bayshore, Sarasota Military Academy, Braden Christian School, Manatee High School, and Saint Stephen’s. The excitement of the match brought students and faculty alike to see the ground-breaking event take place.

The team’s overall record for the day was 13-3, and Falcons wrestlers Parker Lansberg, Jake Ross, Jake Manning, and Max Manning all had undefeated records. Many people considered the match to be a smashing success for everyone involved. The style of the tournament was a “round robin” format, meaning all wrestlers in the same weight division face each other, and the winner is the wrestler with the best record in each division.  

Before the match, a ribbon-cutting ceremony took place to celebrate the Falcon’s new wrestling mat. The arrival of he mat marks a big step forward for the sport at the school. During the off-season, the school received a donation of $12,000 from outside contributors such as Larry Leiberman to purchase the mat.

Athletic Director Lenny Paoletti is optimistic about the future of the program: “Eventually, we could host multiple wrestling events per season and maybe win district, regional & state titles.”

Speaking of the students attending, Coach Paoletti said, “The more chatter about wrestling, the better opportunities for other students to join the program.” The goal of the celebrated event was to attract new interest in the program, hopefully inspiring students to join. The team has doubled in size since last season, but compared to other sports at Saint Stephen’s, the team is still on the smaller side.

Aspiring wrestler and sophomore Henry Howell was at the meet and had this to say:  “Having gone to wrestling matches at other schools, the atmosphere the Saint Stephen’s students brought was something I hadn’t experienced before. I think the wrestlers were encouraged by the crowd’s enthusiasm because the athletes put on quite the performance for our school.”

This year, wrestling was introduced into the physical education curriculum. The team features students in the 6th grade, showing there is a growing interest in the younger grades. This youthful passion for the sport will lead to developing a consistent championship winning program, which is the goal for any sports program.

Wrestling at Saint Stephen’s has been around for seven years, but until recently the sport was practically unknown to many of the students. Senior Josh Willard recalls the diminutive reputation of the wrestling team in years past: “I remember years ago how the wrestling team made practically no impact on Saint Stephen’s athletics, so it’s incredible to see how far the program has grown.”