(WLOS) Numbers are always important in sports, but in wrestling it can literally be the difference in winning and losing. If your team cannot fill a weight class in a dual, and the other team can they get six points; the same as a pin.

Last season A.C. Reynolds had four wrestlers on the team. There are fourteen weight classes. Do the math.

Fast forward to this past Saturday at the Mountain Athletic Conference meet. The Rockets placed five wrestlers in their respective finals, with Eli Brown winning the title at 160lbs. As a team they placed 5th overall.

"Now we have a full roster basically," noted Brown. "So it's a lot different from last year and especially for having a bunch of people. It's a lot better."

Reynolds has won three duals this season, but has been competitive in almost all of them. That is in large part due to higher numbers. Additionally, the Rockets' young team has gained valuable experience thanks to a less-affected season from COVID.

"We only had seventeen matches last year and we have kids getting close to 45 matches already before regionals," said head coach Austin Elfers. "I think the big difference is mat experience."

The hope is that once other students see ACR coming out on the winning end of more meets, maybe the numbers will grow. The NCHSAA dual tournament begins on January 31st. Individual regionals will be on February 11th and 12th.