Name: Ben Jones

Grade: Senior

Sport: Wrestling

Achievements:

Jones started wrestling in his freshman year. In his sophomore, junior and senior years, he contributed to his team’s DCL and Sections wins. This past season, Jones led the team as co-captain to win the Division III state tournament. Additionally, this past season the team went undefeated with a score of 21-0.

Jones thought his most significant achievement was winning the Division III state tournament.

“All four years that’s what I’ve been thinking of, and the past two years that’s been our team goal [to win the division III state tournament]. We knew it could be a two year process. We fell behind last year by [about] 9 points and that was devastating. But coming back [this year] we knew we had the right guys in the room and we knew we could do it. So to finally put it together after four years, my senior year leading the team, that was a crazy good feeling. I placed second in the state finals.”

Sports Idols:

Jones’ sports idols are Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Jones respects Brady’s work ethic, the way he handles himself on and off the field, his preparation for games and the way he leads the Patriots. Jones also sees many parallels between Belichick and the two wrestling coaches at WHS.

Favorite Memory:

Jones’ favorite memory is when the team was riding back to Wayland after winning the Division III state tournament.

“This year, on the way back from Pittsfield, which is where the Division III state tournament was held, we had the trophy and won it. Right when we were about to enter Wayland on the team bus, we got a police escort. It was crazy. We were all happy, music was playing, we were all dancing, the police siren was going off, we were going right through red lights… it was awesome. That was a pretty damn good memory.”

Quote:

When asked to say something to people interested in wrestling, Jones said, “The hardest part is walking in the room that first day, that’s what Coach Chase always said. It’s super tempting to quit, there’s always a lot of kids that do, but there’s nothing more rewarding at the end of a season or at the end of the four years of high school knowing that you stuck it out and that you worked hard in the room every day.”