Wrestling returns to the mat on Saturday at the Justin Northwest 6 Team Dual, the team’s first tournament of the season. 

Junior James-Ethan Harris believes the team’s dual against Birdville on Nov. 10 will play a key role in success this week, as the live action of the previous dual gave the team a chance to specifically tailor their practices.

“During the Birdville dual, our coaches realized that we need to put more pressure on our opponent,” Harris said via text. “To combat this, we’ve been wrestling a lot of live matches against each other in practice.”

With the early season comes a constructive mindset, and others on the team, such as senior Kelly Masucci share James-Ethan’s growth-oriented goal.

“As a team we need to focus on not getting caught up in the pressure of the moment and forgetting what we know,” Masucci said via text. “It’s really easy to panic when you’re on the mat and we need to remember to tune out the noise and focus on what we need to do.”