Lyme-Old Lyme wrestler Taiyo Gemme carrying 20-0 record into state championships

OLD LYME, CT. (WFSB) - Lyme-Old Lyme High School junior wrestler Taiyo Gemme finished the regular season with a perfect 20-0 record, with all 20 of his wins resulting in pins or technical falls.

A technical fall occurs when a match is automatically ended because one wrestler has a 15-point lead over the other.

“My coaches pushing me every day at practice, whether it’s just like drilling with partners and teammates or just with them,” said Gemme. “With the support of my family and my coaches and my teammates, I just have to keep this streak going.”

In his high school career, he has an overall record of 73-8.

“He wants to face the best opponents at all times. That’s one thing that I really believe makes him special,” said Jake Aldi, Wrestling Head Coach, Old Lyme.

With the divisional championships approaching, Gemme has Old Lyme believing they can compete with anybody in the state.

“All of my other teammates besides one are first year wrestlers, and we got to tournaments, and we win matches, and we show and prove to people that we may be a small school, but we still have the heart and the grit,” he continued.

Aldi praised Gemme’s leadership qualities with his teammates.

“He’ll go, he’ll help, he supports every kids’ match like it’s his own and they look up to him. They watch how he works, they idolize him in that way,” he added.

Gemme’s love for wrestling comes from the support of his family and by watching his older sister, Hoshena Gemme, shine on the mat during her high school days, becoming one of the best wrestlers in Connecticut.

“My oldest daughter, she is wrestling for the University of Bridgeport’s women’s team now, and I think it brought all of the kids closer being able to do this,” said Harvey Gemme, their father.

With hopes of wrestling in college one day, Taiyo travels all over the country competing. Through this experience, he has learned about himself in the process.

“It just gave me a sense of determination, and like, I can push through things even though it gets hard, and I can just keep on pushing and keep on doing things that I never thought I’d be able to do,” he said.