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Freshman Victor Silva Named Outstanding Wrestler – Presented by Pine Cellular

Victor Silva is a high school athlete who’s still got his best times ahead of him. The Broken Bow freshman is a talented three-sport competitor in football, track and wrestling. But unlike a lot of athletes, Victor didn’t start competing until he got to junior high. At that time, basketball was one of the sports he played until this year.

“It was real hard for him to get any quality practice time for wrestling while he was still playing basketball so this year he decided to concentrate on just wrestling as a winter sport,” said his coach Dustin Lasell. “I think that decision is really paying off for him now and he’s the most improved wrestler we’ve got over the last year.”

It’s been a busy winter for Victor who wrestles both at the junior high and high school level. In junior high action he finished third in the Lexington tournament, won the Pauls Valley tournament where he was named the outstanding wrestler at the 98-pound division and finished third in the Midwestern Conference tournament. At the high school level, he was eighth in the tough Sallisaw tournament. It seems that coach Lasell’s persistence is what finally convinced Victor to give wrestling a try and it has become his favorite sport.

“Coach just kept bugging me about coming out and I could see myself being on the podium and getting a medal,” said Victor. “I just like the physicality of wrestling, but It has been tough to wrestle both junior high and high school. I decided this year to get serious about wrestling and so I dropped basketball.”

He credits his coaches and Oklahoma State great John Smith as being role models for his time in wrestling and notes that his coaches, friends and family provide the motivation for him to get better every day. In football Victor plays defensive back and wide receiver and in track he takes part in the mile relay and runs the 800-meter and two-mile events. Wrestling at the 106-pound class in high school has, as you might expect, been a challenge for the youngster.

“In high school the guys you go against can be anyone from another freshman to a senior and they’ll generally be quicker and stronger, so I spend a lot of spare time working out in the gym to get that way.”

Lasell says Victor is a hard worker with a strong work ethic who is very coachable and should have a great future as a wrestler for the Savages.

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