The wrestling team won the state championship on Feb. 17, for the third consecutive year in an unexpected victory. The team has won a total of ten state championships, more than any other sports team at Robinson, with seven of those victories coming under current head coach, Bryan Hazard. “We were down by 14.5 points going into the finals; we needed a miracle to win,” said Hazard. “14.5 points in a high school tournament is a ton. All the stars aligned, and we had an unbelievable finish.”

Entering the final round of the tournament, all three wrestlers had to win their matches, at least two had to earn extra points for the team, and the leading team, Westfield, had to lose their match. By the end of the round, Robinson won the title by 1.5 points. Wrestlers Caden Smith, Tristan Corbin, and Robert Kucharczk won individual state titles in their weight classes. “As a team we came in and wrestled really well, ” said Hazard. “Any time you can be a state champion in any sport it’s impressive, so to have that was pretty special.”

Junior Caden Smith has been wrestling since he was in sixth grade and is now a two-time state champion in the 106 lb. weight class. “Caden Smith pinned all his opponents… [Smith] had a lot of pressure on him and he came through in a beautiful way,” said Hazard. Smith describes the energy on the team as being very high at the state tournament. “Wrestling is fun, but the team is the best part,” said Smith. 

In order to win his state title, junior Tristan Corbin had to beat the returning state champion in the semi-finals in the 132 lb weight class. “That was the kid who beat him in the semis last year, and he wrestled great and he just controlled every match,” said Hazard. Corbin has been wrestling since the age of six and his favorite memory from the season was bonding with the team at states. “The energy of the team was really good, this year the seniors pulled the team together,” said Corbin. 

Robert Kucharczk won his state title as a sophomore in the 180 lb weight class. “Robert Kucharczk is a stud, he really just owned everybody, scored bonus points on everybody,” said Hazard. Entering his final match, Kucharczk had to beat his opponent and score bonus points for the team to win. “I was just thinking I’ve been here before, it’s just another match, so I wasn’t too nervous,” said Kucharczk. “But I didn’t know how close the score was.”

Hazard has been coaching at Robinson for the past 27 years. He believed it was important to motivate the team in the right way entering their final match. “One of the things I believe coaches do wrong is they put pressure on athletes… if you continuously pressure them, they fall off, it doesn’t matter what level of sport you’re in,” said Hazard. “I told them… just go out there and wrestle your best, remember why we do it, compete at your best level, but you don’t tell them anything because the ones who were in the finals already knew what was on the line. We told them we loved them and I told them how proud I was and set their mind on a goal and that was it.”