Featured Athlete: James Ayers

Caleb Stein, Staff Writer • March 20, 2018

Grace Nguyen

Senior James Ayers has wrestled since sixth grade and is now team captain.

Senior James Ayers is a captain of the wrestling team and has qualified for state two times.

At A Glance

Whataburger or In-n-Out? Whataburger

Favorite Class? Animation

Favorite Color? Green

Least Favorite Food? Sauerkraut

Football or Basketball? Football

Favorite Movie? Zombieland

Looking Deeper:

The Red Ledger: What got you into wrestling?

James Ayers: Signing up for athletics in sixth grade, I knew I couldn’t sign up for football or basketball because of my size. I came across wrestling, and coach Eaton told me that in wrestling size doesn’t matter– that it’s a sport for all body types. Additionally, a good family friend wrestled when he was younger and enticed me into it.

TRL: What was it like making it all the way to the state tournament two separate times in your career?

JA: It was honestly pretty neat to be a two-time state qualifier in my sophomore and senior season and being one of only a couple in school history in becoming a multi-time state qualifier. Sucked that it should’ve been three, though.

TRL: As one of the seniors, and one who was very successful, what was it like to be one of the de facto leaders of the team?

JA: Taking on the responsibility [of] leading a group of mostly underclassmen was a learning process because this year the team mostly consisted of sophomores and freshman with only one junior.

TRL: Do you think that because of your size, you faced some extra obstacles that you were able to overcome?

JA: Dwarfism or my size was never really much of a problem for me, but more of my body weight and always being 9-10 pounds lighter than my opponent every match was something to overcome.

TRL: What did you do or use to motivate yourself to continue to perform at a high level as you wrestled throughout high school?

JA: Last year, my junior year, I was one place shy of making state, and it motivated me to not let that happen ever again, and it fueled me this year so that I could make it to state a second year, which I was able to accomplish.

TRL: How has your experience in wrestling shaped you, and what will you take from it?

JA: Wrestling has taught me self-discipline with being on time or earlier, along with always working for everything.

TRL: What is your favorite memory from wrestling?

JA: My favorite wrestling memory was sophomore year at dual state when we had to wrestle the host team for the place of fifth in state, and it came down to the heavyweight match all tied up, and our heavyweight Tom Elvin came up with the pin to get the win, and it was pretty exciting.

About the Contributors

Caleb Stein, TRL Reporter

Caleb Stein, now in his senior year of high school, is excited to be coming back to The Red Ledger staff for his second year. While many things have changed since his freshman year, there are some things about Caleb that have never changed, such as his search for classes that give him the least amount of work possible and his impressively dry humor that routinely gets him in hot water mistakenly. Caleb is a sports fan, especially of football and basketball, but he finds himself watching less basketball as the Warriors get more stacked. Caleb is a confident person, a quality that some may find off-putting. But he is very genuine and sincere and a very good person if one gets to know him. He also loves poker, but his lack of money is a hampering on that hobby. He is extremely proficient in tasks that have no value whatsoever, such as trashketball, not being able to dunk, and having back problems like an 80-year-old man. For all his “skills,” Caleb is not perfect and works to grow as both a person and a journalist throughout his senior year.

Grace Nguyen, Section Editor

Fueled daily by three iced vanilla coffees, standing at 5’2”, Grace Nguyen will walk into the E103 door with no problem. Grace is entering senior year, and the only reason she is believed to have survived high school is because of the napping couch in the photography studio. During her time on staff, Grace has been to almost every football game, win or loss, and wouldn’t have changed a thing. Yes, Grace has been tackled by football players, run over by coaches, and body slammed by referees. Nonetheless, Grace will confidently walk on the field this year, bruises and all, alongside her sideline media team. Stepping outside the newsroom, which is rare, Grace enjoys playing softball, hanging out with family and friends, and finding excuses to go to every $3 Pazookie Tuesdays at BJ’s. After high school, Grace hopes to pursue a career in sports photojournalism, so watch out for her still getting run over by athletes on ESPN in the years to come. Although it’s bittersweet to leave newspaper upon graduation, Grace is thankful for all the opportunities that she’s had on staff. Through The Red Ledger, Grace created long-lasting friendships and won a lot of awards that she never imagined was possible. Grace hopes that current and future staffers will think of this national-award-winning publication the same way as she did–a second family and their home away from home.