There is a new kid in town on the Varsity Wrestling Team, and he’s not so bad.

Matthew Beyer, a freshman here at PV, was bumped up to the Varsity Wrestling Team to face fiercer competition than planned coming into the season. He placed 5th in the County Tournament early in the season, making him the highest placed freshman in the tournament.

Going into the season, Beyer was not sure of his status on the team. “I didn’t know that I was going to wrestle Varsity,” he began. “But right before my first match, Coach [Gallione] came up to me and told me that I was wrestling Varsity.”

Before Beyer even came to his first wrestling practice, he did a ton of work beforehand to prepare for the season. In the summer, he built up strength by lifting weights as well as attending a wrestling club called APEX. Here, he would go to practices and wrestle people to get as much experience as he could for the high school team. He still goes there for extra practice. Also, in the fall, he lost the proper amount of weight to satisfy the weight class he is in.

Beyer currently sits at a record of 13-6 in his matches, and he is more than pleased with this record. He is not ashamed of the six losses, noting the matches that he lost were all to people better than him, and all were tough competition.

Coach Gallione had some strong words about Beyer himself, about both where he is now and how much he has done in the past to prepare for these moments.

“I’ve seen Matt wrestle for….for as long as I can remember. I’d say about five years or so.”

According to Gallione, Beyer has already done more than expected from him, and he thinks this is a good foot for the freshman to start on.

“He’s already impressed me so far this season. He’s doing an excellent job this season in his matches. You know, he’s in a tough weight class. But he’s doing better than expected. If he keeps up what he’s doing right now, he could be up there with some of the greats. He could be up there with his dad, his uncle, and so many more.”

Both Beyer and Gallione went on to talk about the importance of the Districts Tournament, which occurs at the end of the wrestling season.

“Wrestling Counties prepared me for Districts.” said Beyer. “Now that I already wrestled in the Counties, I know what to expect from Districts. Especially because Counties is harder than Districts.”

Beyer is always looking ahead, planning for the next challenge and how to take it down. That’s what coach saw in him, along with his competitiveness and strength, which made it an easy decision to put Beyer on the Varsity Wrestling Team.