Senior Alex Ghaffari supporting his fellow wildcat wrestler on the mat by calling out moves that could aid him in winning against the Churchill wrestler. “The coaches kind of give us freedom as individual wrestlers cause if you want to succeed you have to want it yourself,” Ghaffari said.

Shaking hands before the match begins, Alex Ghaffari intimidates his opponent by looking him straight in the eye . “I started wrestling in middle school because I used to have backyard brawls with my friends and I wanted to beat them so joined a wrestling club,” Ghaffari said.

Senior Ari Kefer is waiting for the referee’s signal to be able to attempt to take down his Churchill opponent. “We did a lot better than we did in regular season and we really worked hard [at the meet against Churchill] and I’m really proud of them [the team],” Ghaffari said.

Varsity wrestling coaches Brian Frantz (standing) and Henrique Corte (sitting) intensely watching the match and guiding the Walter Johnson wrestlers to victory. The WJ wrestling team recently won the Battle of Bethesda Tri-match and is largely due to the talented wrestlers coupled with Frantz’s coaching.

Grady Hutton fighting for the inside tie with his opponent from Churchill. The referee closely watched for any rule breaks as the two try to pin one another.