During highschool, students are encouraged to try new things and stay active. However, it can be intimidating to start an activity that you have no experience in, especially if it’s a sport that many have done for years. This didn’t stop junior Kanten Lyle from giving wrestling a shot. 

Lyle was inspired to join the wrestling team after many of his classmates said that he’d enjoy it and that it would be good to try something new. 

“It’s a little bit different than I expected,” said Lyle, “because we work hard in practice and we take the meets seriously, but everybody is having a lot of fun. You can just have fun in the sport.”

It is important for athletes to set goals for themselves, so that they can improve at their sport. Rather than improve his skill, Lyle’s goal looked a little different. 

“I would say the goals I had for myself this season was  just to make an impact on the team for the higher level guys, just to push them in practice or make sure the spirit is up because that’s the biggest impact I could make.”

Throughout the season, Lyle discovered how hard you are able to push yourself, and through that, how much you can grow in the sport and as a person. Lyle also found wrestlers that he could look up to, including seniors Logan Bruxvoort and Hunter Smith.

“Logan and Hunter are just good leaders. Logan always pushes people in practice, but he’s a really nice guy. Hunter is just a really good wrestler.”

With his first wrestling season coming to an end, you may wonder what the newbie wrestler’s record was. 

“I’m not letting you put that in,” said Lyle.