In his 17th season as the head coach of Hayfield’s wrestling program, Hill has learned a thing or two about how to manage his team over the course of a season.
It’s not that he discounts the importance that goes along with the regular season. Hill views it as only one small journey, and he doesn’t want to see his wrestlers get too beaten up or become overly affected by their performances from late November through the beginning of February.
Hill believes that wrestling differs from many sports because “wrestling is a tournament sport,” meaning that if his team can get on a roll and peak at the perfect time, winning a district or regional championship becomes that much more attainable.
Hill has done quite a bit of winning since the 1988-89 season, his first associated with the program. Under Hill’s tutelage, Hayfield has won nine district team titles, six regional team titles and twice earned top-five finishes at the Virginia AAA state finals.
“It’s all about trying to be battle tested to prepare for the rigors of the postseason,” Hill said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re undefeated during the regular season if you don’t pull it off at the end.”
To have his team ready when the postseason rolls around, Hill has learned to shorten his team’s practices this time of year. The Hawks started this season by practicing for nearly 2 1/2 hours and right now go for about 90 minutes. Soon, Hill will only need an hour.
The level of difficulty doesn’t change for mid-season practices at Hayfield, but the pace is quickened because less learning needs to be done. As Hill barked out moves during practice in Hayfield’s wrestling room last Thursday, players shuffled back and forth, hardly staying put for more than a few seconds.
“It’s one of those things where you might not feel good while you’re working hard, but afterward you realize that you accomplished something,” said J.P. Ethier, a 135-pound senior who’ll leave for the U.S. Naval Academy on July 1. “Toward the end of the season, we have shorter practices, but there’s a greater intensity.”
“It’s kind of like putting hay in the barn and having faith that you put enough in there to get through the winter,” Hill said. “I’ve known a lot of coaches that have worked their kids too hard at the end of the season and they’re physically and emotionally spent.
“It’s tough. I’ve learned a lesson the hard way about that.”
The Hawks had a 14-11 record in dual meets entering Wednesday night’s showdown at Lake Braddock.
<b>THE UPCOMING</b> postseason offers greater importance for the Hayfield grapplers because of the circumstances surrounding the school’s athletic program. Hayfield will switch to the National District next season and wants to leave a lasting impression on its Patriot District opponents.
Furthermore, since part of Hayfield was split off and assigned to South County Secondary School in 2004, on-field success for most of Hayfield’s teams has been sparse.
Hill said that this year’s team is the smallest that he’s fielded during his tenure as head coach, a point emphasized by the fact that only five freshman came out for the team this winter. Most told Hill that the program required too much work and the expectations were too high.
“We have some other sports here where their numbers are huge and they’re not that successful because there’s not that expectation,” Hill said. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing.”
But the wrestlers on Hayfield’s team have lifted the Hawks to greater heights this season. In addition to Ethier’s (25-14) breakout campaign — he didn’t even place at regionals last winter — Hayfield has received solid contributions from 125-pound senior Ray Borja, who’ll attend the Naval Academy Preparatory School after graduation.
Borja has a team-best 35 wins and only four losses. He has scored 183 points against his opponents, who have only scored a combined 13 points.
“He really looks good and very focused,” Hill said.
Though the Hawks’ numbers are down, Borja feels that his team can call upon Hayfield’s tradition to help reverse course before heading for a different district. After all, the Hawks have won the Patriot District eight out of the past nine years.
“We’re looking at the prior seasons for where we want to be at,” Borja said. “Back then, they had this ‘Iowa-style’ of wrestling where they would just break people on the mat. This year, we’re the ones being broken. We’re trying to reclaim that personality.”