The Rainier High School wrestling team celebrated its 10 seniors ahead of its home league mixer Thursday, Jan. 23, but the celebration was far from a goodbye as the veterans used their final home meet to fine tune their skills with the postseason zooming closer.
Keira Anderson, April Anguiano, Faithe Jarvis, Liam Hentze, Steven Johnston, Zander Peck, Connor Power, Johnny Grimmett, Brayden Walker, and Jace Lavender were honored prior to hitting the mat.
Head coach Chris Holterman, who has seen dozens of senior classes move on in his 31 years at Rainier, said this group stands out due to its leadership, particularly with Anderson and Peck.
“They are definitely the leaders of their teams. All the kids look up to them, and they’re fantastic leaders. If you’re a coach, those are the kids you dream about having,” Holterman said. “It’s been fun to watch them grow and develop.”
Peck and Anderson are two longtime members of the Mountaineers wrestling program, with Peck wrapping up his fourth year and Anderson in her third. Anderson said her time with the team has taught her how to never give up and how to inspire teammates in a variety of ways.
“It’s definitely taught me to never give up, even if you lose a match. You have to get back up and improve even the little things and take that one step forward,” she said. “I hope I’ve been able to inspire people. All my teammates have always been there for me, and I like being a rock for them that they can look up to.”
Peck acknowledged that, even though the season is far from complete, he was emotional and a bit nervous when he was honored before his final meet in the Rainier High School gymnasium.
“I was a little stressed coming into it. I wanted to make sure that everything was perfect. I was feeling nervous and excited, and I just wanted to perform my best and show out for my family,” he said.
Both Anderson and Peck have dreams of bringing home even shinier hardware at the Mat Classic next month than they did last year. But while the priority is to be one of the last wrestlers standing at the Tacoma Dome, the seniors are making sure to enjoy their waning moments and put their stamp on the program.
“I want to be a state champion. Of course that’s a huge goal, and that’s what I want. But if that doesn’t line up with God and even though I’m giving 100% my best effort, I’m totally happy with that,” Peck said. “Whatever I get, I want to succeed, and I will always be able to succeed in the eyes of God, and that’s what I’m confident in. Being able to go out there and wrestle my hardest is all I want.”
Holterman said his group of seniors isn’t the most vocal out of the classes that have come and gone over the years, but they are natural leaders in that they are servant leaders off the mat.
“We have talked the last few years about, to be a good leader, we need to serve other people,” he said. “That servant leader is the last one out of practice, they’re picking up the stuff that people left behind, they’re cleaning up the locker room, and they’re the last ones off the bus because they make sure it’s clean. Nobody ever sees that. You don’t get any pats on the back for doing all of that dirty work, but they’re serving their teammates. We call our bus drivers and our custodians our teammates because we’re all part of the same team, and they’re serving them even behind the scenes.”
During Thursday’s league mixer, which included Winlock, Ilwaco, Toledo, Pe Ell, Mossyrock, Chief Leschi, and Onalaska, Holterman said his team wrestled well but added that some mental adjustments will need to be made with the postseason looming.
“There’s obviously little things here and there we can fix and work on. There’s some mental things that we’ve got to shore up and some little technique things but nothing major,” he said.
Rainier will head north Friday, Jan. 24 for the Relentless tournament at Chief Sealth High School. State qualifiers kick off Feb. 8 for the boys and Feb. 15 for the girls.
