George Ryckman ’24 takes the win.
All-Gender Wrestling lost to Roxbury Latin 30-46 and Belmont Hill 18-54 in Saturday’s doubleheader. The team’s record now stands at 8-4.
Despite falling in both games, Andover put up a commendable effort, according to Bodhi Beroukhim ’25. Beroukhim noted that there were many close matches in the meet.
“It was rough. We lost to both Belmont Hill and Roxbury Latin, but they’re both good teams… Belmont Hill is a really good school, so I’m not really sad that we lost there. When we fought against… Roxbury Latin, there were a lot of close matches, counting mine, that we could have for sure won, but because of either our practices or our grit during the match, we were not able to pull through,” said Beroukhim.
According to Eva Murphy ’25, the team has been transitioning to a practice routine that incorporates more chain wrestling and live wrestling. This has helped the team adjust to specific scenarios during matches.
Murphy said, “In practice, we’ve been trying to drill more chain wrestling, and essentially what that is is going from move to move without pausing, which is one of the things that, especially new wrestlers, but really everyone, can strengthen… We’ve been doing live matches, which is pretty much like a replication of a normal match that you would have at a meet, and then we’ve been doing more intense drilling and things like that. We’ve been doing situational live wrestling, which is getting into a certain position, say you just got taken down and then start to go live from there. So, [we have been] working from difficult positions and then strengthening what we’ve been working on in preseason and the first part of the season.”
Margaret Tsien ’26 believes that its members find strength in the support they give one another.
“I think we’re a really close team… I’ve made a lot of really good friendships through wrestling, everyone’s very supportive of each other, which I think fosters a really nice environment just for wrestling. Even though it’s like people are individually fighting, it’s such a team sport in the sense that there’s so much team support,” said Tsien.
Likewise, Beroukhim noted the importance of commitment during practice. Although wrestling is an individual sport, Beroukhim feels that much of the culture of the sport at Andover is centered around supporting each other during matches.
“I think we’re close as a team. Many people think of wrestling as an individual sport, but in fact, it’s really a team sport as… you’re only as good as your partner in practice because if your partner’s not good or they’re not trying, then you’re not going to get better. And also I think, as a team, even after your match is done… I think we do a good job of supporting the wrestler who’s currently in a match,” said Beroukhim.
In its upcoming match against Exeter, the team is looking to close the gaps that resulted in its defeat last week. By continuing to practice chain wrestling and with an emphasis on sprawling, Andover hopes to increase its intensity in this Saturday’s Seabrook Duals.
Murphy said, “Coaches have emphasized sprawling, which is essentially a defense to a takedown, so working on our takedown defense. And then also our ability to [do] chain wrestling, [which is when], if you hit a move and it doesn’t work the first time, go again and again until you can escape or until you can score. So just pushing the intensity in matches, and really putting ourselves in good positions and knowing what those good positions are, so we’re able to score and hopefully get our team points in the end.”
All-Gender Wrestling will compete at the Seabrooke Duals on Saturday.
