20 more seconds, senior TJ Centi is sure he can do this.  15 more seconds, and Centi doubts what he just thought 5 seconds ago.  10 seconds later, Centi hears people yelling and screaming his name.  The countdown begins: three, two, one.  The ref blows his whistle, Centi has made his 30 second pin.

Centi has only wrestled since his sophomore year, and began wrestling because of the people already on the team.

“I wanted to be on the team because the coach is funny and I get along well with a lot of the guys on the team now and in the past,” Centi said.  He also thought it looked fun as something that he would like to do. In just three years, he has made the varsity team and earned the captain role. 

Centi likes that wrestling is an individual sport, unlike baseball, the other sport he plays at JC. “I like the challenge of winning by myself and having no one to blame if I do lose,” Centi said. 

One of Centi’s favorite memories during wrestling season was participating in the Battle of Bel Air. “I had some really good matches last year at the Battle of Bel Air,” Centi said. 

Even though Centi is not planning on wrestling in college, he has still formed lasting memories with the JC team. “I have good memories of last year of joking with all the guys on the team in bleachers at tournaments when we were there all day,” Centi said.

Amanda Graziano is a Opinion Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com