Captain Gabe Worgaftik ’06 won his second straight individual title, leading Phillips Academy wrestlers to finish 4th place at the annual Class A League Tournament. This year, the team matched a school record with ten individual place finishers. Brian Foye ’06 also performed outstandingly, winning an individual title at 160 lbs. Ten of Andover’s wrestlers wrestled their way to top six finishes overall. These include Akshay Paintal ’07, who won second place at 112 lbs., and Victor Vazquez ’06, winning third at 145 lbs. AJ Charles ’08 also finished at third, weighing in at 125 lbs. and Gordon Murphy ’06 obtained a fourth place finish at 152 lbs. Hector Cintron ’08 at 171 lbs., Sam Cartmell ’06 at 189 lbs., and Colin Serafino at 215 lbs. all fought hard for their fifth place standings. Colin Dunn ’07 at 130 lbs. rounded out Andover’s finishers in sixth place. Following an opening round bye with two straight pins, Captain Worgaftik won an absolutely crushing 7-0 finals victory at 135 lbs. Because he won the individual title at 125 lbs in 2005, he has become only the seventh wrestler in Phillips Academy Andover history to claim two individual league titles in a single career. Captain Worgaftik went 4-0 on the day. His first win was by forfeit, over Will Cooper from Choate. His second was a pin against Lou Zajac of Hyde-Maine, followed by another pin against Loomis wrestler Chris Baker. His 7-0 finals victory was won by decision over Alex Debelov of Wilbraham. Foye also went 4-0 on Saturday, opening with a technical fall victory over Josh Heilwel from Wilbraham. He went on to pin Deerfield wrestler Anthony Jaramillo. In the semifinals, he kept the whole team holding its breath, as he won by a last minute 2-1 decision over James McCarthy of Tabor. He ended the tournament by decimating Cory Jacobs, from Loomis, in a 7-4 victory to win his first league title. Winning the team title, Loomis Chaffee wrestled well, scoring 259.5 points. Phillips Exeter Academy obtained a second place finish with 202.3 points, and NMH was close behind in third, with 200.5 team points. PA had a solid fourth place finish, scoring 163.5 team points. The end of the season tournaments will continue with the National Prep tournament at Lehigh, Pennsylvania this weekend and end with the New England Prep tournament at Brooks School on March 3-4. Five of Andover’s top wrestlers have qualified to compete in the National Prep School tournament at Lehigh University. They have had to run the gauntlet to get this far, having to place in the top three at the Class A Tournament or be selected as a wild card. Our qualifiers are Captain Worgaftik, Paintal, Charles, Vazquez and Murphy. Thirteen members of the PA wrestling team have qualified to compete in the New England tourney. In order to qualify, these wrestlers had to place in the top four at Class A or have won more than two out of every three dual meets, or higher in meets against other prep schools. Our wrestlers in Blue have performed well this season, but with two more tournaments looming over the horizon, they will have ample opportunity to prove their skills to themselves, their fans, and their opponents.
