By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Manager, Washington D.C. Metro Area
**Click the links above to view complete video and photo packages from Wednesday’s meet.
Borja Closing on History
Ask Hayfield senior Ray Borja about his impending passing of Steven Ours‘ school-record 164 career wins and Borja’s dismissiveness is surprising.
It also explains how he got there.
“[It means] nothing, really,” said Borja, convincingly. “I just focus on my next match, winning one at a time. If I get that record, it’s cool with me. I’m fine with it.
“If it happens, it happens. I’m just worried about my next match.”
That systematic approach was evidenced on Wednesday at Hayfield in a quad meet that included Annandale, South Lakes and T.C. Williams.
Borja, after defeating promising Seahawk freshman Ryan Forrest, 19-4, in his first match, went on to pin Titan and Atom opponents in quick succession in his final two matches of the night.
Borja improved 26-3 on the year and sits at 158 all-time wins, six shy of Ours’ mark, which was set early last season.
“Usually, at the beginning of my matches, it’ll be close,” said Borja, who, in the last two years, tied for second and fifth all-time in single-season victories at Hayfield. “Me and the guy go back and forth, hand-fighting. But I’ll keep the pressure up.
“The guy will usually end up breaking towards the end of the match and that’s when I start pulling away.”
Nasty Maknassi
The 112-pound matches were supposed to be the most hotly-contested of the night, especially that between T.C. Williams sophomore Omar Maknassi and Annandale sophomore Jon Le.
But Maknassi scored a decisive, 17-6 win, making a statement in his defeat of the No. 4-ranked 112-pound wrestler in the Northern Region.
“You always have to keep wrestling until the whistle,” he said. “You never know what may happen. You have to keep up that intensity the whole match.
“And you have to keep coming after it the entire match until the whistle blows.”
The never-say-die attitude is far from uncommon on the mat, where team training regimens are designed to physically and mentally exhaust wrestlers.
Maknassi, though, had the added advantaged of competing in the elite Junior National Championships last summer in Fargo, ND., an experience that widened his eyes to the dedication necessary to excel in the sport.
“I really got a lot out of it and got some national exposure,” said Maknassi, who grappled at 105 in Fargo in July. “It taught me how to work hard. I saw the competition and I saw how hard they worked and I need to do the same to get up there with the best in the nation.
“There’s only one champion and the person that wants it more is going to get it.”
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
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