This week’s athlete of the week is sophomore wrestler Cayden Rooks. Rooks wrestles in the 120 weight class for the No. 10 Olympians.

Last Thursday, East Wrestling faced Seymour to open up their season and Rooks got a 30 second fall. This past weekend the wrestling team traveled to Floyd Central for the Duals-Super 6. The team went 5-0, defeating New Albany, Charlestown, Floyd Central, Jennings County and Jennings County.

While the team did very well, Rooks stood out and went 5-0 individually. Rooks started out strong with a fall. His next match resulted in a forfeit, and then he continued to roll in the next three matches. He had three falls, with two of them in less than 40 seconds.

On Thursday, East had a meet against Franklin Community and the team had a 50-16 win. Rooks had another win by fall, continuing his success this season.

Rooks is coming off a successful freshman season by making it to Semi-State. After a strong start to his sophomore season, it looks like Rooks could have similar success and possibly make it to the State Championships.

Q: How do you feel about being selected as Athlete of the Week?
A: It’s an honor to be selected as athlete of the week. It feels great to know that everyone will get to see the hard work I put into the sport.

Q: What did you experience freshman year that has helped you this season?
A: The biggest experience that has helped me was losing in Semi-state. It showed me that what I was doing wasn’t enough and I needed to work harder to be able to achieve what I want.

Q: How do you mentally prepare before your match?
A: Before matches I block out everything except wrestling. I go over everything I have worked on and what I am going to do. I always tell myself that nobody can beat me because I have put in the time and work to make sure of that.