I arrived in the Peter Yan Gym at Abraham Lincoln High School at 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 24. I walked across the three mats and passed the crowds of wrestling teams from other schools in search of my own.

“Where’s R.T?” were the first words to escape my mouth. We needed freshman Raynier Tanega for the 137-weight class.

“He’s in the bathroom,” freshman 215 lb. wrestler Calvin Graber said. This calmed me for a moment, but once again, I was in the state of panic as he returned.

“Are you on weight?” I asked.

“I haven’t checked yet,” Tanega said.

My mind raced as I pushed him in to the room filled with test scales. It was nearly 8:00 am, the time for official weigh-ins. Pacing back and forth, I waited for him to step out.

“I weigh 138,” Tanega said. Before I could say anything he added, “I ran three miles yesterday and I haven’t eaten anything yet.”

“You’re not on weight!” I exclaimed. “There’s only seven minutes left until weigh in’s! You need to drop a pound.”

Tanega rushed in to the restroom, in an attempt to crap out every bit of weight he could. Sitting on the bleacher, I tried to calm down, but my heart kept racing. We already lost several wrestlers; we could not afford to lose another. Senior Johnny Ko, one of the best 152-pound wrestlers in the city, was unable to compete due to the five-day cut list. New wrestlers, senior Victor Duru and freshman Chakuma Duru picked up the sport quickly, but didn’t have high enough grades. They all could have taken first place easily if they were eligible.

“All male wrestlers report downstairs to the weigh-in room,” a man announced from the speaker.

I waited frantically upstairs as one by one my teammates returned.

Sophomore 140 lb. wrestler Sergio returned with the news I dreaded hearing, “R.T. weighed in at 137.2 lbs.”

He was a mere point two pounds off even though he weighed-in nude. He was disqualified from the tournament, and could not bump up a weight class; the brackets were set the previous night for All-City Finals.

Wrestlers are set in one of the fourteen weight classes, 103, 112, 119, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 152, 160, 172, 189, 215, or 285 lbs. The separation of weights is an attempt to make the matches fair.

I remained silent until they called the females to weigh in. Down the steps I went to be met with the dreaded scale. The Lowell High School wrestling coach Denise wrote with a pale green marker 111.6 on my right arm. As I expected, I was severely underweight compared to my competitors. Lincoln High wrestling coach Noel Yescas had bumped me up to the 119-weight class because senior Vahram Gabrielyan had a better chance of placing in the 112-weight class.

Up the stairs, I went to meet my doom. My first match was against senior Sam Chue, one of the captains from Galileo High School; who ended up winning first place and best light weight. My mind began to close in on itself; I could not remember to call Yescas over to coach my match. A shrill sound went off as the referee put his lips to his whistle.

Chue and I tied up. He then went for a double leg shot, which I failed to escape. He was too strong and heavy. Accepting defeat, I stood and shook the Galileo coach’s hand and then rushed to the next mat in order to watch Gabrielyan’s match.

It was halfway into the third period. Gabrielyan had competed in Greco-Roman style wrestling back in Armenia and tried to incorporate those moves while wrestling Mission High School junior Andrew Yip. The score was close, but it ended with defeat at 10-8. Gabrielyan lost the match, but knew he still had a chance of placing third.

Still upset from the loss, Gabrielyan went hard on his second match against a wrestler from Galileo. He accidentally injured him due to frustration. The injury prevented him from continuing the match, and Gabrielyan was declared the winner; this led to a rematch against Yip for fourth place. The intensity rose as people cheered loudly unsure of the turn out. “Cradle him!” and “Get up! Short on time!” were shouted repetitively during the match.

Gabrielyan put up a good fight, but Yip was declared victorious.

Seniors William Yee, Sergio, Vincent Tan and I were all eliminated after losing two matches in a row. The only person to win any matches besides Gabrielyan was Graber. Like Gabrielyan, he put up a good fight but ended up taking fourth.

We stayed and watched the championship matches although none of us qualified.

Each one more intense then the previous as opponents attempted to go for a quick pin.

“Boom, boom, clap” rang through as Washington stomped their feet and clapped their hands.

“Who’s House? Gal’s House!” Galileo shouted.

“O-C! O-C!” screamed O’Connell.

A swirl of chants rang across the gymnasium filled with excitement.

In the end, Galileo was declared Champions for the third consecutive year, followed by Lowell and Washington. Lincoln took seventh, although they never expected to win.

It was a great season wrestling against Galileo, Lowell, Washington, Balboa, O’Connell, Marshall, and Mission High Schools. Together we fought hard and struggled to make weight and maintain a team. Throughout the season, people quit because they couldn’t handle the pressure or pain; wrestlers who remained until the end of the season gained strength both physically and mentally. Now I can only contemplate what will happen next year and who will replace me as captain.