As senior Nick Smith came onto the mat ready to wrestle his opponent from Van Buren, he wasted no time getting down to business. He took his opponent down in four seconds, and pinned his him in nine, which became the new record for the fastest pin on the team.

“You can’t go out there thinking. You just got to do what coach says and what you learn in practice,” said Smith, a 195-pound senior.

The hopes of repeating as state champions will be a challenge due to only four wrestlers returning from the championship team, which includes seniors Smith and Ty Harrison and juniors Jesse Weir and Nate Washburn.

Individual state champion and sophomore Joey Adams transferred to Springdale High School, thus decreasing the number of returning veterans on the team. The Wildcats lost 10 wrestlers who competed in state last year either to transfer or to graduation.

“To repeat this year, our returning wrestlers really need to pull through,” said Weir. “We need like four or five guys in the finals like last year to win it.”

The Wildcats have many new wrestlers on the team, which could be either an asset or detriment. Head coach and wrestling coach of the year, Nika West has a few sophomores returning, though not all who wrestled at state.

“Over the summer I have been coming to practice, going to wrestling camps, and working out a lot, because this season I want to improve from my previous one and compete in state,” said Tanner Collins. Collins, a sophomore, competes in the 126-pound weight class and is new to the varsity team this season.

Some wrestlers are doing more than just practicing. Junior Douglas Matthews, Smith, Weir, and Collins all go to the gym outside of school to train, to cut weight, and to just become better. Matthews also diets during the season to maintain his weight and stay healthy.

“I try to go every day, but here and there I’ll skip Sundays,” said Matthews. “I usually go in the morning before school during the school week, because I feel like practice just isn’t enough for me. If I want to win state, I’ve got to do more than just practice.”