Senior Seth Otis, has wrestled for coach Gary Mayabb all four years of high school. As a freshman, Otis qualified for the MSHSAA Wrestling State Tournament at 106 pounds. He won one match and wrestled two other close matches that resulted in losses.

During his sophomore year, Otis wrestled varsity agian, but was stopped short of the State Tournament in the bubble match at districts. He was defeated, wrestling a higher weight class at 113 pounds, and better competition. The summer afterward, Otis worked out as much as possible in order to avenge this loss from the previous year.

“It was a great match, but in the end, I came out with the L. I worked so hard the summer of my junior year to get back to the state tournament, and it turns out that I worked a little too hard,” Otis said.

He was talking about a sunny day in August when he was getting an after workout lift in, and while deadlifting, herniated a disc in his back. He said he immediately knew something was wrong, yet he pushed through the injury. He wrestled for the next two months without giving the slightest indication of the injury.

On a Sunday afternoon in October 2014, Seth was getting a workout in and felt something bad. He finished the workout, then he told his mom about his back. He said that when he got the MRI, the doctors were astonished. He said that they told him that they couldn’t believe that he had wrestled so long on this bad of an injury. He had to schedule surgery as soon as possible, and just like that, his junior wrestling season was over.

“Seth is a calming force. He just rolls up his sleeves and gets his work done,” said Mayabb. “He is a thinking warrior. His injury, from my perspective, cost us at least two places at state last year.”

Otis recovered from the injury, doing personal training and rehabilitation of the muscles in his back, but still feels the pain of the loss from sophomore year.

“I wrestle through the pain,” said Otis. “How else would I get back to the State Tournament?”

Otis’ record is 17-1 so far this season and is planning on making a run for the state championship.