Sports

South Lakes Wrestler Ryan Forrest Looking For State Title

Junior enters Virginia AAA tournament with 37-0 record.

South Lakes wrestler Ryan Forrest heads into his Friday's Virginia State High School League AAA wrestling tournament with a 37-0 season record and a newfound strategy since his previous appearance a year ago.

Forrest, a junior, advanced to the state tournament in 2010, but lost in the  quarterfinals. Since then, the 145-pounder has worked several times a week with renowned coach Wade Schalles, a three-time NCAA champ and world record holder for the most number of pins.

It has paid off.  Forrest has pinned 28 of his opponents this season.

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"He really pushes me," he said. "He got me in a mental mindset that I am in the match to pin. I have got to go out and think I am going to pin." 

Working with Schalles has fine-tuned the natural ability South Lakes coach Bruce Hall has seen in Forrest since we began wrestling. Hall first coached Forrest and his younger brother, Josh, when they arrived in the Herndon Rattlers youth program when they were in elementary school.

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"I knew Ryan was special even then," says Hall, whose South Lakes team went 19-6 this season. "He's going to get a lot better if he does not get complacent."

Forrest started wrestling at a young age because his father, John was a former high school wrestler.  In addition, Forrest plays on South Lakes' football and baseball teams and swims for the Reston Swim Team Association's Glade Gators in the summer.

Playing a variety of sports not only helps keep Forrest in prime condition, it also helps balance him, says his John Forrest, now an assistant wrestling coach at South Lakes.

"One of the things that is different about Ryan is that some of the kids he wrestled with in middle school, almost all of them had been held back a year and just did wrestling," he said. "Ryan does all the sports, and South Lakes offers him a chance to succeed in all the sports. We as a family felt it did not make sense to emphasize one sport as the only thing."

The VHSL AAA wrestling meet is Friday and Saturday at Robinson High School.

 

 


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