Winter sports are near the end of their season, but before they end, the teams proceed toward their Sectional competition. Gymnast junior Hannah Perry has been preparing for her competition by practicing throughout the week.

“We practice 5 days a week,” Perry said. “We do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. During practice, we are focusing on things that we have fallen on the past couple of meets.”

Sophomore wrestler Cohen Long has also been consistently training for his sectionals competition.

“The team and I are training every day and perfecting our technique in order to prepare for sectionals,” Long said.

For wrestling, sectionals are the very beginning of the journey to state.

“After sectionals is regionals, semi-state, and then state,” Long said.

It is a similar process in gymnastics.

“Advancing from sectionals to regionals and from regionals to state is what makes sectionals so important,” Perry said.

Sectionals could be a factor that goes into the stress that some student-athletes face, but senior diver Kristin Waite tries to avoid worrying about it.

“Sectionals hasn’t played any part in my mental health because I know that I am going to do my best and that I shouldn’t stress about the things that I can’t do, and I should focus on what I can do,” Waite said.

For the men’s swim team, they are also practicing consistently to prepare for their sectional meet.

“We have been having hard practices but soon we will start tapering,” Junior swimmer Harshith Devaguptapu said.

During the swim, Devagupatpu focuses on how he is swimming.

“I am constantly focusing on my technique,” Devaguptapu said.

Waite is thinking of similar things.

“When my meets are happening I am thinking of all the corrections I have been told and all the mistakes that I can fix,” Waite said.

For some athletes, sectionals can be a stressful time because of the added pressure they bring to the table.

“Sectionals has added pressure because it’s win or go home,” Long said. “If you don’t advance to regionals then your season is over.”

With this pressure, fan support can be beneficial, especially to Perry.

“The more people we have watching us compete just shows how much our sport means to other people, like our families and friends,” Perry said.

For others, such as Long, fan support doesn’t play as big of a role in his performance.

“Fan support is always great but it’s not the most important thing because while you’re wrestling everyone else zones out of your mind,” Long said. “A lot of the time during matches there isn’t much going through my mind, wrestling is so much different than any other sport because you don’t have time to think. By the time you think of something the opportunity is already gone.”

Many athletes use sectionals as a time to test their skills and reflect on their seasons.

“Overall, sectionals are a pathway for athletes to further succeed and test their abilities,” Devaguptapu said. “It is our last chance to get to state and to swim in our last meet.”