The boys’ wrestling hosted the Dupage Valley Conference last Saturday. This was the final meet solely within the DVC and the beginning of the postseason. The tension was high as wrestlers and their teams looked to take home one of their last potential wins. “Everyone wants to take that bracket home and say I was the last champion for that weight class in the DVC before it disbands,” junior Brandon Hing said.

Metea Valley placed sixth overall with a final team score of 109.5. Glenbard North won the tournament with a score of 275, while rivals Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley finished third and ninth with scores of 188 and 77, respectively.

The atmosphere was electric in the morning as wrestlers waited for their weight classes to come up. Mentality plays a big role in success. “It’s a lot of my mental stress, it’s about staying in that competitive zone going into the matches,” senior Jake Tjards said. Wrestling at 190 pounds, Tjards waited nearly five hours for his round.

Some of the athletes will finish at the IHSA Regionals meet, but others are looking on to the IHSA Sectionals tournament and the IHSA State competition. After a long regular season, the team is hopeful for several of their athletes going forward.“This season, as a team, we’ve gotten a lot closer. We’re all just working on wrestling and we’re all just really as a team doing well,” Hing said.