Winning Streak Only Small Part of Success at William Penn
NAIA Central Regional Tournament Saturday at Bacone College
By Ryan Dunn “Staff Writer
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The William Penn wrestling team heads into this weekends Central Regional tournament in Oklahoma after having just completed a perfect dual meet season, finishing 11-0. What’s more remarkable is this isn’t the first time the Statesmen have completed the feat, it’s actually the fourth season the team has gone undefeated – in a row.
Not since 2001 have the Statesmen suffered defeat in a dual meet, and while head coach Gary Garvis realizes the ultimate goal will always be to win the national tournament, he does admit the streak gets brought up from time-to-time.
“We don’t really talk about it too much, but we talked about it at the end of the year, before our last two duals we brought it up, and we took nine of ten from Wabash, and beat Waldorf (34-11) on February 4th, “Garvis said.
“The seniors talk about it, Fidel [Gonzalez] and Ryan [Guffey] have been here for pretty much all of them. They talk about it being meaningful to them. It’s a lot more meaningful to the upperclassmen, but there’s certainly a trickle down effect though. We have high expectations when we go to a dual meet, we expect to win, “added Garvis.
“It’s pretty important to me, it’s 49-0, not a lot of teams have done that, but every time we wrestle, we only lose a match or two, so that helps the guys wrestle better, “noted Guffey, who’s ranked first in the nation at 165 pounds and has compiled a 22-3 record on the year.
Garvis credits avoiding burnout as a key ingredient to the success his team has enjoyed.
“We don’t wrestle a heavy schedule, only about 11 or 12 dual meets a year. We don’t travel much during the week, and we try to keep them fresh. But when we have a dual meet, we turn it up, because it means something, “he said.
“We have 50-60 kids out and the good numbers helps to maintain our balance. We’ve had some injuries, but we’ve had enough depth to replace people, which is important. We put an emphasis on getting kids healthy. Some freshmen have stepped up for us this year – Larry Smith, Spencer Bain – because we’ve lost some kids, “Garvis said.
Garvis admits that with the winning has come a bit of pressure, but it’s the ability of the coaching staff in conjunction with the wrestlers to spin that pressure into the motivation to perform well.
“We’ve put a little pressure on ourselves but we’ve always come up and done what we need to do, but there is certainly some self-imposed pressure. The winning helps the attitude though and helps kids elevate their performance, and it helps propel them at tournaments, “Garvis said.
Rough Past
While the streak is no doubt impressive, it’s that much more miraculous considering the program hadn’t won a dual meet in 10 years prior to Garvis taking over in 1999.
“The first year we won two matches and it was discouraging. The most difficult thing was to get the kids to stick around, “Garvis said.
“In our second year we were close to .500, we were then a Division III team [now an NAIA team], but we beat some teams that William Penn hadn’t beat for 20 or so years, “he added. “The next year I got some really good kids and it took off, we got kids to believe. I had a couple of good transfers – Severin Walsh was a really good leader, and Joe Evano transferred in and also provided good leadership, “he said.
The program has produced 12 All-Americans since 2002 including Evano who was a national champ in 2003 at 184. They have also added the last two Central Regional Championships, and finished in the top 10 at the NAIA Championships each of the last two years.
A Family
When Garvis was asked the main reason for the success his wrestling teams have enjoyed, his response was quick and easy: the family atmosphere.
“We have pretty good diversity, there’s 24 different states represented [on our roster], and all four corners of the nation. When someone comes in, they all bond, they can’t go home on weekends, they’re here, and that’s the main reason for our success, is our family atmosphere, “Garvis said.
“They lose that support system when they leave home and it’s tough, but we’ve created a family atmosphere, a support group. “
Garvis added this was something that has taken some time and was a goal of his coming into the program. “We’ve spent some time putting that together, and we’ve done so outside of the wrestling room, “he said. “But the thing that’s really helped is that we have kids from such mixed areas. “
“Its every kind of person, but everyone hangs out with each other, there are no cliques, and it’s really nice. The team unity is so strong, everyone cares for each other, and we stick together, “added Guffey, who hails from San Diego.
Garvis also adheres to a simple family tradition which contributes to the bond that’s been created on his team.
“When we’re on the road, we never stop at a fast food restaurant; we always go into a restaurant and sit down together at a table. Sometimes dinner takes three hours, we’ll sit down, have our meal, and the kids won’t want to leave, they’ll just want to sit and talk, it promotes family unity, “he said.
So, while the team atmosphere continues to pay dividends, Garvis hopes it will do so at the national level.
“Right now we’re trying to keep the kids focused on nationals because we’ve certainly got some kids who can be national champs this year, “Garvis said.
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