Liberty’s Reid catching up on wrestling achievements

Getting missed a person varsity athletics year, Christian Reid did not want to skip yet another.

“I have been ready for wrestling season for a extended time now,” said the Liberty junior 160-172-pounder. “It’s been all I can think about. I was setting up to get impatient right up until we could begin about 10 days ago. I have been carrying out additional lifting to keep me in excess of.”

It is been touch-and-go for wrestling, but Reid and the Hurricanes’ instant has lastly arrived.

Liberty, ranked No. 8 in the location by lehighvalleylive.com, will journey to the “Kid Dome” Wednesday night to take on No. 4-ranked Northampton in an EPC Northampton Division clash that is the time opener for equally teams.

Reid is also a catcher for the Hurricanes baseball group and missed out on the 2020 spring period when it was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. But baseball gamers are blessed — they get two seasons.

“It wasn’t so lousy,” claimed Reid, who has performed catcher for 10 decades. “I could not perform for the significant college staff, but I could enjoy for my event group, the Lehigh Valley Soaring Stars. Final year was the greatest hitting I have at any time performed.”

Reid talks equally enthusiastically about both equally sports — baseball and wrestling, which utilised to be a relatively frequent double for lots of athletes, has turn into less typical.

“I could not say which a person I like the finest,” Reid stated. “Whatever is in time, I are inclined to say I like the other just one extra. I like baseball due to the fact it is extra laid again, and I like wrestling simply because of the competitiveness. Lately, I have been prioritizing wrestling.”

Presented Reid’s achievement on the mat, that selection helps make a good deal of sense. He went 29-16 as a sophomore with some high quality wins and experienced for the Northeast Regional.

Potentially even a lot more importantly, he turned a rate-setter for a younger and promising Liberty wrestling staff.

“Christian is the sort of man or woman that anyone enjoys getting around,” Hurricanes coach Brandon Hall explained. “I very question there is any individual who knows him who does not like him. As a coach, he is effortless to gravitate to due to the fact of his work ethic, individuality and entire belief in his coaches. He by no means leaves a apply/training without offering some (many thanks) to each coach.”

Right before Liberty was allowed to start out its season, which was right after most spot teams could begin, Reid did the greatest he could to maintain prepared.

“(Sophomore Liberty teammate) Ryan Santiago has a mat, so I went in excess of to wrestle at his household,” Reid mentioned.

But there’s almost nothing like remaining back in Liberty’s aged-fashioned wrestling space at Memorial Gym.

“It felt good to see all people from the crew once again, in spite of how out of form I was there,” Reid explained.

At the time Reid got his conditioning down, he hopes to use it to make him a more durable foe.

“I like getting on my feet and I like using photographs,” he stated. “I want to continue to keep pushing the tempo at all situations and hardly ever prevent having takedowns or using pictures. I want to maintain the identical rate the overall match.”

Reid has eradicated one particular potential component that could have been slowing him down.

“I had to correct my having behavior the working day of the matches,” he said. “I was ingesting sandwiches, way far too several carbs, I’d feel superior all day and then I’d begin to really feel like a slug. Now, I’m taking in fruit, beef jerky — I like the teriyaki kind — and scrambled eggs on toast.”

Reid will likely wrestle most of the period at 160, though he can quickly bump up to 172 if need to have be.

“I like being at 160 pounds,” Reid claimed. “But I’ll go wherever the coaches need me.”

With all the pandemic restrictions and uncertainty, 2021 is a rough calendar year to established rigid goals for, and Reid is taking factors as they arrive.

“Since our period was reduce in half, as a staff, we’re just attempting to get far better every working day and we’re concentrating on planning for following period, way too,” he reported. “As an individual, I just want to get excellent matches and get some wins versus great little ones — our schedule is very challenging. I just want to go as far as I can.”

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Brad Wilson may well be arrived at at [email protected].