Aggressive, skillful, and prepared is how Englewood High School students describe the senior wrestling maestro Jayce Prante when he battles on the mat.
For all of his four years at EHS, he has dominated on the mat. This season is not different, “My favorite thing about the wrestling season is probably how much success we have as a team, including myself. I’ve won every tournament except for one. And we found a lot of success with our younger guys and newer wrestlers as well,” Prante said.
From the time he started wrestling, state has been the goal, this year it is state and more, “My goal is to be a state finalist. If not go for the state championship.”
For athletes, the amount of preparation needed to be successful is immense, but for Prante, it was nuanced, “From the start of the season, we knew that I had to drop some weight to make my weight class. So that was the start of it. Eating well, exercising really hard. And now that it’s getting closer to the time when I can achieve my goal. It’s all about working hard and reviewing all the moves so that I can be as successful as possible,” Prante said.
With the wrestling season quickly coming to a close, many emotions come with the end, “I’ve watched a lot of people grow up that I’ve been friends with have a senior night. I’m excited this is mine but also a little bit sad. It’ll be ending. I’d like to have a match hopefully, but if I don’t, I’ll still be excited to see everybody I walk with.”
Coach Matthew Burton says this year, the team has strong talent, “The team is led by Jayce Prante and Eli Cortez. We currently have three ranked kids in the state, with Jayce at number two and currently on a run for the state championship.” Prante currently has more than 100 career wins as part of EHS wrestling.
Wrestling is a growing sport at Englewood with more and more students joining each season, “I’m really excited for the future of Englewood’s wrestling team. I think that we have great coaches and great potential with all of our wrestlers. As long as people keep coming out,” Prante said.
Prante heads to state on February 15, 16, and 17 at the Ball Arena. Tickets to the event are here linked to Ticketmaster.
