Gatewood impressed Feb. 2-3 at the GIAA traditional wrestling tournament, despite having only two grapplers compete.
Tyler Middleton and Jackson Hewatt were the only Mat Gators to make the trip to Gainesville, where Middleton placed fifth overall in the 285-pound weight class, and Hewatt finished fourth in the 144-pound weight class.
The two wrestlers combined for 35 points, helping Gatewood’s team to finish 16th out of 30 teams.
“It went really well,” Gatewood head coach Tyler VanDusen said. “We took two guys, and out of 30 teams, we finished 16th as a team. (Tyler and Jackson) put up a bunch of points, we came up with a bunch of pins and they wrestled very hard.”
VanDusen was impressed with the way Hewatt handled business against fierce competition in his weight class. He went 4-2 in the tournament with a fourth-place finish. His only two losses came to the No. 1 overall seed.
“(Jackson) had the No. 1 overall seed on his back in the quarterfinal, but just couldn’t quite finish him,” VanDusen added. “He bounced back and wrestled all the way back into the consolation final. He came up short again and ran out of gas at the end of a long day. But he put together a bunch of wins in two days for us.”
Middleton made it to the quarterfinals in the heavyweight division. VanDusen said Middleton lost to a pair of the state’s top grapplers in the 285-pound division but competed hard with some quick pins.
“He lost to a pair of good wrestlers. Everybody else he pinned quickly,” VanDusen said. “He just wrestled well.”
The Gatewood head coach said he was proud of how his two lone state placers persevered through an up-and-down season. They both fought hard after seeing the rest of their teammates’ seasons end due to various injuries, he pointed out.
“It’s been a real grind of a year. So, for those two guys to finish as strong as they did, and to show that courage was great to see,” VanDusen said. “They had to win two matches before they even got to the medal rounds. That’s tough to do when you’re dreaming about a state title when you’re dealing with so much.”
Gatewood’s season was hampered by many injuries, but VanDusen’s squad ended things on a high note at the traditional state finals competition.
“Coming into the year, we figured we could crack the top five as a team,” VanDusen said. “Maybe get a team trophy. For a team goal, we had all these big dreams. To have that stripped away from us, we knew with two kids there was no chance anything like that was going to happen. But for them to come back strong, it’s a testament to those kids and their background and the way they were raised. It’s what they stand for.”
VanDusen said he hopes his younger wrestlers can learn a thing or two from Hewatt and Middleton.
“I can’t say enough about how proud I am of those kids,” VanDusen said. “Jackson was dealing with a bone bruise. He was all banged up and limping around. We did everything we could to get him to the mat and get him in shape to be able to do it. Then he goes and wins two or three matches. Even in his losses, he got stronger and found a way to fight through it. That’s the kind of kid he is. The same thing goes for Tyler.”