After a phenomenal season filled with dominant performances and high expectations, the Castleton Spartans wrestling team concluded its season in disappointing fashion. Despite their hard work and dedication, the team fell short of their own expectations, leaving the program as a whole reflecting on what went wrong.

Head coach Scott Legacy wasn’t happy about the team’s performance, but he said he understands the performance at nationals doesn’t diminish the success the program had throughout the season.

“We did not live up to our expectations. We went in believing we could win the whole thing. We worked very hard for that goal, the guys were pretty healthy but the perfect storm didn’t happen for us at the nationals,” Legacy said. “Our performance at nationals doesn’t diminish what we did all season. We had the second most guys there and we have a lot to be proud of but we’re all feeling the pain and that’s sports.”

Coach Legacy and graduate assistant Ryan Foutz emphasized how distinct the environment was at nationals compared to their regular season and regional tournaments.

The acknowledged that the mental aspect may have played a role coming out the gate in the first round. But the team settled in and wrestlers found their groove in the later rounds, leaving Legacy and Foutz confident as the tournament wore on.

“I felt like we bounced back in the second round, winning five out of six matches, which was a highlight,” Legacy said. “We tried to keep them relaxed and focused so just going over the little things in between matches was key because we wanted to keep their mentality right. Making sure the guys were locked in and feeling good going into their next match,” Foutz said.

The hardest part of the day wasn’t just falling short of expectations, it was seeing opponents crowned All-American that some Castleton wrestlers beat this season. Legacy knew his guys had a bit of pressure on them going into nationals and Legacy felt they handled it well.

“We wrestled over 60 percent of the teams that were there and we beat most of the guys who qualified as All-Americans,” Legacy said. “It’s hard to become All American in the sport of wrestling because you have to earn it. After a win it’s about realizing it’s only one match and after a loss it’s about having resilience and recognizing you’ve got to make adjustments for the next match and our guys battled to the end so I’m proud of that.”

Coming into nationals Foutz realized he and the team were stepping into an event with high stakes. Foutz attended the Division 3 National Championship as an athlete but didn’t compete, making this his first real live action with this event. Foutz felt nervous going in but leaned on the team’s preparation and momentum.

“With this being my first time coaching at nationals, I felt butterflies because I was in a situation that I’d never been in before,” Foutz said. “You’re wrestling the best of the best but I still put trust in the coaches and wrestlers, so the nervousness went away because I knew all the time and effort we put in.”

Despite the disappointing outcome, Legacy remains confident in his team’s potential and understands it’s going to take everybody to move forward.

“We return four national qualifiers, which is encouraging because we returned four this season, but we need continued leadership and for our young guys to keep working hard while maintaining the culture that has already been built,” Legacy said. “And last but not least it starts at the top, so I need to get better as coach and so does the coaching staff. We need to improve at all levels if we want to be the best. It can’t just be on the wrestlers, as their coach I try to be better every single season.”

As the team regroups and assesses the lessons learned, they are all setting their sights on next season including, Foutz who wants the most for each of the guys on the team.

“There’s always things to improve upon and although we didn’t get our goal I feel confident going into next season. Getting guys on that podium and claiming All-American status is vital for us but like I said there’s always room to improve,” Foutz said. “We won’t just settle for what we have, we’re going to continue to improve as a team and make sure everyone is buying in.”