Feb. 1, 2001

Player Diary - Toby MacDonald

January 25 - January 28, 2001

Toby MacDonald is a third year from Venice, Florida. At 12-7 overall, he is one of Virginia's most consistent wrestlers this season. He finished first overall at the Virginia Intercollegiate State Wrestling Championships after going 3-0 to earn his weight class title (133 lbs). Born in Mineola, New York, in November of 1978, Toby is the son of Helene and Bartlett MacDonald.

Sunday, 1/25

It was a long day and I am about ready for bed. We had a 7 am practice where we drilled and went over some things to expect for the NC State and Duke matches on Saturday. In the later practice we picked it up and had a good practice. Even with all the injuries we have right now we had an intense practice which is what we need. I was pretty fired up and frustrated and was throwing one of the guys I was wrestling into the wall - it happens a lot when guys are wrestling hard in the room. Anyways, we finished practice with some conditioning and then I got some treatment on my knee. That's pretty much it for today...I'm just chilling to some Ben Harper...good night.

1/26

Tomorrow is the big day...our first ACC matches of the year. We had a relatively easy practice in the afternoon to keep everyone fresh for the match. Afterwards, most of the guys stuck around to lose some weight. I was pretty light all week so my weight hasn't been that much of a problem. I'm still a few pounds over but I'll just work out tomorrow morning before the weigh-ins.

1/27

We finished the day with a win and a loss, and I finished the same way. We knew we had a banged-up lineup going into the weekend, but I thought we were still better than NC State, no matter what the score read. Besides Jimi Massey and Greg Francesca, no one really wrestled that great...not that anyone wrestled bad but we should have dominated some matches and we ended up losing close matches. I won but it should not have been that close of a match. I just couldn't get any offense going. Later that afternoon we wrestled Duke. We beat them as a team, as expected, but the score was very close. I ended up getting in the same rut and couldn't get my shots off. I lost a close match to a kid that my coaches and I feel I can beat. I still have a month to work out these problems.

1/28

Today was my day of rest...almost. I went and lifted weights in the morninig then a bunch of the guys went over to Swella's place to watch the Super Bowl. Now I just finished writing down some of the things I need to work on and I set some goals for the following week. We wrestle UNC this Saturday...I cannot stand UNC.