The Paly wrestling team lost to Fremont 63-13 at their first dual meet of the season at home on Tuesday, Jan. 6. Keahi Asing (’18), Seth Goyal (’17) and Chioke Bryant-Anderson (’15) all scored for the Vikings.

Alexa Austin (’15) was proud of her team, especially the underclassmen wrestling for the first time.

“I think this was a tough dual, Fremont’s a really good team and we have a lot of young guys,” Austin said. “Overall I think that we fought pretty well.”

Coach Braumon Creighton also acknowledged the difficulties that were faced by his younger wrestlers.

“The freshmen are at a huge disadvantage,” Creighton said. “These guys don’t even really understand starting positions and we’re putting them out there in a varsity match.”

Asing wrestled in the 106-pound weight class and pinned his opponent. Nicholas Ogawa (’18) wrestled for the 113-pound class and was pinned. Austin was also defeated, losing 11-1. The score was 10-6 in favor of Fremont after the first three matches.

In the 126-pound match, Goyal won 16-10. The wrestlers in the next two weight classes, James Giaccia (’15) and Nicholas Dias (’18), were both pinned, and Ian Garduno (’17) lost by a technical fall. Garduno also lost a point for Paly for poor sportsmanlike conduct.

Paly forfeited the 152 pound match and both Emil Wolfgramm (’16) and Sara Aguilar (’17) were then pinned.

Bryant-Anderson won by a technical fall in the 182-pound weight class to give the Vikings some final points. The 195-pound match was forfeited, and the final wrestler of the night Tajae Murray (’18) was pinned to finish up the match. The final score was 63-13.

Goyal believes that his team needs to bring up the intensity in order to succeed in the rest of their season.

“We need to fight more,” Goyal said. “A lot of guys are moving up from JV to varsity so they were a little anxious about the competition.”

Austin echoed Goyal’s opinion, stating that the season was going to be tough but that there was plenty of potential.

“Looking forward, I think we’re just going to keep working hard,” Austin said. “I’m looking forward to the rest of the duals.”

Despite the loss, Creighton remained positive about the rest of the season and was supportive of his team.

“I’m still really proud of the whole program,” Creighton said. “I’m proud of my coaching staff…and we’re only going to get better.”

The Vikings will compete in tournaments the next couple of weeks. The next dual meet will take place on Jan. 22 against Cupertino at Paly.