Though the varsity Diamond Bar wrestlers experienced a grim season with multiple injuries and tough defeats, they aim to regain their momentum in the CIF postseason in the coming weeks.

“The guys overall trained hard. Everyone has injuries right now but they keep coming in and listening to us coaches, and I’m happy about that,” coach Donny Palmer Sr. said.

On February 20 during the CIF Individuals, senior Jeffrey Lin won three matches and finished in sixth place. Senior Derrick Moss placed in fourth.

After a CIF Duals loss to Bloomington 60-14 on February 7, seniors Jesse Dicken and Lin as well as juniors Jacob Munoz, Vincent Lopez, and Jake Miozza qualified for the League Finals. During this meet, junior Leighlan Corpus and Moss gained the title of League Champs due to their dominating performance.

Junior Melody Palmer also contributed victories as she competed in CIF and earned a record of 2-2, despite suffering from multiple injuries.

The Brahmas dominated the mats early in the season, starting off with a 76-0 win against Claremont. However, as the season progressed, the team suffered many injuries, forcing some wrestlers off the mat.

“We haven’t really had our best team on the mats this year since half the team is injured, but we’ve been practicing hard and I’m hoping they can take it as far as possible,” Palmer Jr. said.

Senior wrestler Donny Palmer Jr. gained a state ranking this year, but quickly lost his title due to concussions. Palmer Jr. also competed at the National High School Coaches’ Association nationals for USA wrestling against 1000 competitors and ranked in the Top 25. Although he did not participate in CIF Individuals due to his injuries, Palmer Jr. hopes to get healthy in time to compete for the State Tournament in April. If he is able to place in State, he will able to compete in the Nationals Tournament, which he participated in last year.

“I think we’ve had better seasons in the past because we put in more time to practice. This league is also stronger than the Hacienda Heights league. At this point, we’re just working on making a stronger team next year and getting someone to state,” Palmer Jr. said.

Since Palmer and Corpus had stellar performances, they were rewarded with a sponsorship from Asics. Asics approached coach with the intent to sponsor the whole team based on the stellar individual performances of the two DB wrestlers.