It is no accident that this year’s wrestling team’s sweatshirts have the words “getting stronger” on them. “Well, each year we’ve gotten better,” head coach Chris Horpel said. “I’m hoping that we’ll improve this year. [The team is] getting better everyday.”

Gunn was ranked eleventh in 2006 and seventh in Central Coast Section (CCS) last year. The team is currently ranked fifteenth in CCS and has won all of its dual matches except against Los Gatos, which is currently ranked second in CCS, and Fremont. Horpel, however, is unfazed by the losses. “I think we’ll catch up to them at the 15-team SCVAL Championships,” he said.

Gunn’s 48-member wrestling team, one of the biggest teams on campus, is doing well, some wrestlers said. “We’re doing pretty well, considering that we have a bunch of young guys, especially sophomores,” senior wrestler Nic Giaccia said.

Junior wrestler Phil Park agreed. “I think the team’s doing great, but I always see room for improvement,” he said. “I think we need to work harder and have a better attitude.”

Some members also said that the team is more unified this year. “We’re much more connected this year,” Giaccia said. “We all just sort of click and get along.”

The wrestlers are also improving individually. “This is my best year so far,” Park said. “I’m expecting a first place at league and a top four finish at CCS.”

Senior Dennis Chan also improved, but his performance has not yet met his expectations. “I’m doing better than I did last year, but not that great,” he said. “I don’t wrestle as well in competition.”

The team strives to win all the dual meets and the league tournament, a goal set at the beginning of the season. Despite the team’s two dual meet losses, junior Zack Blumenfeld said he thought the team would be able to win the league tournament. “I think that if we keep working hard, and everyone wrestles their best, then we’ll be able to pull it off,” he said.

According to Blumenfeld, the team’s loss of three graduating seniors greatly affected the team. “This year, we only have one dominant wrestler, but the rest of our lineup is more experienced than in previous years,” he said.

Giaccia, who is currently ranked second in CCS, is the leading team member this season with a 25-3 record. “He can win CCS if he brings his A-game to the CCS Championships,” Horpel said. “If he wins it, he will be the first Gunn wrestler to win a CCS title since 1979.”

Giaccia, who is trying to win both CCS and state titles, goes to the gym to lift weights and runs at night in addition to attending wrestling practice. “My coach and I are working hard to achieve my goal,” Giaccia said.

The team’s practices consist of doing warm-ups, learning technique and conditioning five days a week and sometimes on Saturdays for two to three hours. Some members, like Giaccia, train outside of the team’s regular practices. Blumenfeld and Chan also do interval running outside of practice.

Despite a rigorous practice schedule, wrestlers still face unpredictable situations. “The thing about wrestling is that no matter how hard they train, how much technique they know, there’s always the unknown,” Horpel said. “I try to train them so that they’ll be ready for the unknowns and come out on top.”