CAPE HENRY ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
WILL MASON

The Cape Henry wrestling team broke ground last year by winning the TCIS regular season and tournament titles, not to mention having success on both the state and national level. This year more of the same is happening, and the success of reigning All-American, and this week’s Athlete of the Week, Will Mason, has a lot to do with it.

“Will has been outstanding,” head coach Jack Effner said. “He works hard in practice and puts in a little extra outside to get better.”

Will spent the off-season fine-tuning his skills, both on the mat and in the weight room, and his hard work is paying off. After roaring through the regular season a year ago with big win after big win, culminating in an All-American finish, Mason put himself on the map. With that success has come a target, but even though he is now a known commodity he is still rifling through opponents.

“He has established himself as one of the top young wrestlers in the nation,” Effner continued. “He has been mentioned in national rankings and will begin to get college looks in the very near future. Will is the total package, he works hard, he’s very coachable, he believes in himself, conditioning is never a factor, he is very strong and explosive for his weight class, and he is a competitor no matter what the challenge.”

Those attributes have allowed Mason to build up a 30-3 record through the 2010 season, and his work last week only helped to grow his status. Mason had five matches over the course of the week, starting with TCIS rival Bishop Sullivan on Wednesday and finishing with the Lake Taylor Invitational on Saturday. Mason went a combined 5-0 with four pins and one regular decision. Will pinned his opponent from Catholic in a time of 3:31, and he won his first three matches at the Lake Taylor Invitational with pins in times of 1:14, 4:42 and 2:49. His final match of the day at the Lake Taylor Invitational was his longest, but his success continued to the tune of a 2-0 shutout decision victory over his opponent from Deep Run.

“He has good techniques from all start positions, not showing any weakness,” Effner said. “He has established himself as a team leader as he is well respected by all his teammates. He makes our program and team better because of all his characteristics.”

Not only has Will’s success been helpful to the team in terms of individual points, but as Coach Effner pointed out Will brings a leadership component to the team that inspires those on the mat with him. Mason has been dominant on the mat throughout the course of the season, and his teammates are feeding off of his success.

“He welcomes challenge and will do what is best for the team,” Effner finished. “All of this makes Will fun and easy to coach. We all look forward to great things each time he steps out on the mat.”

With a tough tournament this weekend in the Ocean Lakes Invitational, and their final meet against Norfolk Christian before the TCIS tournament, Mason looks to help lead the Dolphins to more TCIS hardware.

And if past success is any indicator Mason and the Dolphins are in good position to do just that.