Connor Moos (17) and Robert Guzman (17) have been on Eaton High School’s wrestling team for four years, starting out small, but striving to do some pretty impressive stuff. Tony Mustari, head wrestling coach, said that both Moos and Guzman were undersized when they first came to wrestle. This made it harder for Moos and Guzman, but Mustari said they are good wrestlers, and that Guzman “never counted himself out.” When Moos first came to wrestle for Eaton during his freshman year, Mustari’s first impression of him was that he looked younger. His impression of Guzman was that he was shy. But, both Guzman and Moos plan to go on to do big things.

When Moos came to participate in wrestling at the high school, before he was on varsity, his youthful look got him the nickname, among the wrestlers, “Baby Face”. In his senior year, Moos is on varsity, and both he and Guzman are planning some prestigious things for their future, outgrowing their old labels.

These two wrestlers will soon be leaving the high school, but planning on doing some remarkable things. Guzman, who took part in wrestling during middle school, said, “I went into high school being pretty shy, and I felt like I’ve opened up a little bit more as the years went on.” In high school he started out wrestling in order to stay in good condition for football. But, he said that he ended up really enjoying wrestling and decided to continue to wrestle in the end. Guzman did say that there were times that he wanted to quit, such as when he simply was not doing as well as he would like to, but with the encouragement of his mother, Guzman stayed loyal to his team. Although Guzman said he had participated in wrestling in order to stay in good condition for football, he found that, besides it being enjoyable, he grew closer to the wrestling team than the football team.

When Guzman leaves the high school his plan is to go into the marines, but not simply just the marines, but he aspires to become an officer in the marines. He said, “I wanted to be encouraging to my little brothers, just to tell them that you can do anything you put your mind to.” The things he has learned from wrestling, leadership and loyalty, he is certain to use in his future, going from leading wrestlers to leading marines.

When Moos first came to Eaton High School, he was transitioning from a different school district that had a large middle school, so he said that the high school presented a lot of new opportunities for him. Moos said that his years at Eaton have “been a lot of fun” and that “there were a lot of new people.” He has wrestled since he was five years old, and says, “It is physically and mentally testing,” which he enjoys. Moos said that practices would at times be a grind, but he carried on with wrestling, showing his loyalty and displaying his attitude of never giving up. He said, “It was never an option for me [to quit wrestling].” Moos also said that the wrestling team was the closest non-family group of people he knew. Wrestling, Moos said, included hours a week of practice, so a lot of time was available to grow close to the team.

Despite Moos being nicknamed “Baby Face” by his fellow wrestlers, he has not stopped him. Moos plans to go to a prestigious program at CU Denver to be educated for an occupation as a dentist or some kind of specialist in this field.

Guzman and Moos started out small, did not do anything too noteworthy in wrestling, and faced what some may see as flaws in them. But, the two have big plans for their lives, and though it may have been hard at times, they overcame it and, more than that, superseded it.