The freshman and sophomore secretaries, Alyssa Lasater and Jamie Pyle work together throughout the school day. After school, junior Ben Pyle and senior Jessa Johnson are practicing on the wrestling mats. All are connected through school and sport— Jamie Pyle and Ben Pyle are mother and son. Lasater is not only the assistant coach for the girl’s team but also Johnson’s stepmother.
The team is a family with values that carry the team each year as it is passed down from upperclassmen.
“We’re very supportive of each other and we have a lot of people who are very different outside of wrestling. We have theater kids, choir kids, Public Safety,” Johnson said. “Everyone has their own thing and they’re very different people, but with wrestling, we’re all close and we’re all friends. It’s just something that brings us all together.”
This season will be Johnson’s last in high school, so she is taking on a leadership role.
“Now that I’m a senior, I feel like the girls that aren’t seniors are like my little sisters,” Johnson said. “I love them with my whole heart. They’re the sweetest little things, and I just try my best to support them and show them that we’re like teach them how to treat each other and how to be a team because my freshman and sophomore year were a little shaky, but I want to teach everybody how to just get along and support each other and move past things that happened and be there for each other.”
Ben Pyle feels very similar to Johnson. The memories he has made with the team have kept him wrestling.
“Since freshman year, I’ve known the seniors that were here and graduated now,” Ben Pyle said. “I’m gonna be there from freshman year to senior year just like the seniors before me. So it is just leading an example.”
Both Jamie Pyle and Lasater haven’t always been involved in wrestling but their families have allowed their connections with the sport to grow.
“My stepdaughter started wrestling when she was a freshman here and that’s when we learned what girls wrestling was,” Lasater said. “I’ve been around it for four years now and I had coached her in the Adidas Nationals event two years ago and when an opportunity came available here at the high school. I jumped on it to become a girl’s wrestling coach here.”
Ben Pyle has been wrestling since he was four years old. He has wrestled for the boy’s team each school season.
“My dad—he was always a big wrestler,” Ben Pyle said. “My entire family was just wrestlers, so I carried on and I have just been doing it for him, but I’ve grown to start to like the sport, and in high school, I really like it too and now I’m just gonna keep wrestling.”
Jamie is a huge supporter of Ben. She makes him special meals for weeks he needs to cut weight and goes to all of his meets to cheer the team on.
“Just a big family, just a big brotherhood and it’s great,” Jamie Pyle said. “And I think it’s great for anyone to be not just on wrestling, but on a team.”
Lasater is just as proud of Johnson. She has been there watching her grow since her interest in the sport began.
“My stepdaughter started wrestling when she was a freshman here and that’s when we learned what girls wrestling was,” Lasater said. “A favorite part is seeing how far she’s come since she first started, and not giving up on matches and going out and being dominant and successful, and using the moves that she has groomed over the last four years to go out and win matches.”
Lasater took the opportunity to help coach very quickly. This year is her first year, however, she has a perfect way of describing the team and what they strive for: “Togetherness, family, and probably the fact that they want to go get ice cream after they have a really good meet.”
Overall, the wrestling team’s family values are not ones to underestimate. This may seem like a normal team, but their family built on the mats is what sets them apart.
