As the Virginia wrestling team finds out at every practice and meet, youth is a time for learning. As age draws on, that new knowledge becomes settled understanding, and hopefully success. For the Cavaliers, however, understanding and success seem to have come -- and even earlier than some expected.
This success has propelled the team to break the single season dual meet wins record for the Virginia wrestling program. After plowing through Davidson and thumping solid Appalachian State and UNC-Greensboro teams this weekend, coach Steve Garland's Cavaliers now have a 13-3 dual-meet record, surpassing the old mark of 12 wins.
Even after last year's 6-7 dual-meet mark, this year's success should not come as a surprise. On the brink of their ACC schedule, the Cavaliers have doubled their dual-meet win total, posted strong showings at several competitive open tournaments and broken, even if briefly, into the national top-25.
"I'm pretty happy, but at the same time I know we have a lot of work to do," Garland said. "It all comes down to this next month of wrestling."
The Cavaliers' success has come in the face of stiffer competition, and more of it, than the team has faced in past years. Garland said this was part of the plan to raise the team's performance to the next level.
"We really just need to get a lot of competition," he said. "That's the general thing we've been doing with the season."
Judging by the team's recent string of strong meets, the wrestlers are responding to the challenge, and, for the most part, overcoming it. Garland's wrestling ethic has yet to be put to the test, however, that an emotional series such as the team's ACC schedule will provide.
"The meat of the schedule is coming up," Garland said. "We've wrestled a lot of good competition, we've gone to some good tournaments and we've had some great dual meets. It's good, but at the same time, the second half of the season is what really, truly matters because it's our ACC [schedule]."
Looking ahead to next season, the Cavaliers will only lose two seniors to graduation, leaving the core of this year's team intact. That nucleus, the driving force behind recent successes, seems to be the dynamic between the enthusiasm of the team's relative youth, the determination of its upper-class leaders and the focus of Garland's wrestling philosophy.
Freshmen Mike Chaires and Chris Henrich are two leading examples of talented new wrestlers who have glimmered in the spotlight, but have also borne their share of defeat. This past weekend's match against UNC Greensboro illustrates the potential -- but not certain -- talent this year's freshmen possess.
Coming into the 174-pound match the Cavaliers still trailed UNCG 9-15 and had only three weights left afterwards to make up any difference.
Garland said his team didn't give up, and Henrich, slated to wrestle at 174 pounds that match, did not back down.
"They were yelling at each other on the bench; [junior Rocco] Caponi was firing kids up," he said. "Henrich comes out there and steps up [and] pins a guy. Forced it, just muscled it over, made it happen."
Chaires, on the other hand, lost a heartbreaker 3-2 but showed the composure of a more experienced wrestler when he reflected on it.
"I dropped a loss to a kid I probably shouldn't have lost to, but the team picked it well," Chaires said. "Henrich [got] a big pin and [sophomore] Brent Jones [came] through beating a top kid, so that just shows that good teams have to win through adversity, and that was a test for us."
These wrestlers were part of one of the most talented recruiting classes at Virginia, but they benefited greatly from the know-how of team leaders such as Caponi, and from Garland and his staff's experience.
"For myself, I can start to see my style reflecting coach Garland's technique and everything we've been going over all year," Henrich said. "Everything's finally starting to come together. That's a testament to coach Garland and just how hard he works with us and what he wants us to do."
One thing Garland and his wrestlers emphasized was the fact that his wrestlers have become a team.
"You're going to have your ups and downs, but as a team we've come together really well," Henrich said.
When asked how it feels to be a part of this year's team, Chaires responded as one should expect: He said he was excited not only by what the Cavaliers have done, but for what they have yet to accomplish.
"It's exciting to have a lot of wins as a freshman," he said. "It's just exciting to be a part of a pretty good team, a team that's got a good future"
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