Senior Branden Fiorentino has high hopes for his last high school wrestling season, hoping to be a top contender for the  138lb title at the state championship and help bring his school a district title.

“My goal for the season is to do the best I can, but my major is to go to states,” said the three year Letterman.

But it’s more than just individual goals for this wrestler.

“There’s a lot of inexperienced kids that are up and coming so my goal for the team is for everyone to get better and be district champs,” said Fiorentino.

Fiorentino’s career first started during his freshman year, which got off to shaky start. At first, Fiorentino didn’t like the sport whatsoever and actually thought about quitting, but that all changed as the year went on. Soon, he started to develop a passion for the sport, stuck with it, and now his world revolves around wrestling.

Having a 15-1 record last season at the 132lb weight class, it’s clear that Fiorentino loves to win. On the other hand, working your way up to a tournament then a win is a huge process and requires an immense amount of dedication. According to this Chief wrestler, the hardest aspect is cutting and maintaining weight.

“The biggest flaw about my game is just trying to stay uninjured and staying as healthy as I can for next season,” he said.

For wrestling, the word “fatigue”  is an understatement. It’s a grueling six minute match, the worst six minutes any wrestler has to ever go through. Not everyone is going to win though, even the best have lost. However, Fiorentino takes a loss as a great way to review his mistakes.

“Perfecting all the moves I know and training my body to overtake my competition,” is his motto after a loss, he said.

A win, on the other hand, is best feeling in the world for a wrestler and an unexplainable feeling. A individual win earns respect throughout the  team and brings them one step closer to that team leader/captain role. Even for Fiorentino, being the leader is not an easy task.

“It’s hard being the leader because everyone else on the team looks up to you and if you mess up, they mess up,” said Fiorentino.

But he’s always up for a challenge. So watch out for Branden Fiorentino as he tries to be a state contender and the Wrestling Chiefs as they take on the elite wrestling teams such as Olympic Heights, Palm Beach Central and Park Vista and try to bring home the biggest achievement of them all: A district title.