Sanderson High School - Lakonikos Yearbook (Raleigh, NC)

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over and the referee raises the victor's hand, it is his hand, his victory. He is the best on the mat. I started wrestling to stay in shape for football, now I play football to stay in shape for wrestling. Steve Niemyer Wrestling gives me a chance to co- ordinate brains with muscle to batter my opponent. Eric Winte It's you against him. , Mike Baker WRESTLING TEAM: Row one: Mike Baker, Iames McNeil, Mike Vevurka, Wes Harrelle, Eric Winte, Ieff Muschell, Bobby Walters, Mark Blackburn. Row two: Iohn Ligotino. Richard Fleming, Les Ellis, Steve Nie- myer, Dale Craft, Rick Donnalley, Reginald Blackman, Charles Gardner. 65 4

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Varsity Sports at Sanderson annually succumb to a gener- ous helping of defeats, that is the varsity sports -that everyone goes to see. In the atmosphere of perennial losers, no one seems concerned with the advent of a true champion. Has anyone ever seen the wres- tling team lose? Chances are slim because very few people , have seen the wrestling team in action, much less seen them lose. As the most successful teams at Sanderson, these gladiators of grapple are wholly the most underrated. They not only must fight the rigors of conditioning, but also the lack of support from the student body. The quality of Sanderson's wrestling teams has always been excellent. Rarely has anyone on the team made a profession out of counting the lights, a wrestler's expres- sion for being pinned on the mat face up. Yet, amazingly the majority of Sanderson's wrestlers began the season with very little experience. But as inexperienced as the new wrestlers were, their en- thusiasm usually seemed to overcome their mistakes. As a team, the wrestlers seem to have a spirit unequaled by any other team. For the past two years the team has compiled a 21 and 1 record. Last year they were Conference Champions and this year lost onlyin the finals. 64 FGRCCDTTE CI-IAMPIQNS he coach gave us the desire not to quit. Mark Blackburn Each member conditions, trains, and wrestles on his own -alone. Only he knows how physically prepared he is. Each wrestler is expected to confront and defeat his opponent by him self. There is no help from his team on the bench except for yells of encouragement. The wrestler must use his own strength, his own cunning, and his own quickness to defeat his adversary. When the Match is

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FLAW THE DIAMUND Whoever remarked that experi- ence is the best teacher could not have possibly had Sander- son's baseball team in mind. The 1975 team suffered a rather disappointing season despite the fact that there were eleven returning members from the win ning 1974 team. Obviously in- experience was not the culprit behind their record-but then what Was? lt would be inane to try to use the age-worn ex- cuses of weather, coaching, or an inadequately equipped team to explain their season. The coaching does not make or break a team since the players' ability is of primary impor- tance. If an individual has the ability to play good ball, he can do so only if he po- sesses the desire. And Sander- son is possibly the best equip- ped school in the city. As far as the weather goes, it rained just as much on Broughton and Enloe as it did on us and both those teams managed to finish 9 losses? Perhaps the term im- maturity could be used to de- scribe the team. This term does not apply to the players indi- vidually, but only in the sense of how they performed together. Although each member was gifted in some aspect of the game, they seemed to have trouble combin- ing these talents into effect- This yeafs team lacked much of the togetherness which is vital to the suc- cess of a team. Bryan Copeland ive team play. However, to say that they never played well as a team would be false-their 8 wins alone would disprove that statement-but rather that they did not keep up this with above-average records. Then unity with the consistency that what factor made our team end up with a record of 8 wins and 66 is completely necessary to produce a winning season.