Magnus Julin ’25 pinned his opponent at the end of the second period against Wilbraham & Monson.
Saturday 12/9 –
Andover: 27, NMH: 53
Andover: 40, Avon Old Farms: 39
Andover: 48, Nobles: 31
Andover: 15, Trinity Pawling: 52
Wednesday 12/13 – Andover: 51, Wilbraham & Monson: 30
Andover Wrestling (4-2) had a meet-filled week, competing at the Avon Holiday Duals on Saturday, the St. Paul’s Girls Tournament on Sunday, and a dual meet against Wilbraham & Monson on Wednesday.
Andover faced off against four different teams at the Avon Holiday Duals, finishing the day with two team wins and two losses. Head Coach Kassie Bateman highlighted the individual performance of Dani Nugent ’25, who went undefeated in her matches on Saturday.
In an email to The Phillipian, Coach Batemen wrote, “She was competing against wrestlers who were physically stronger than her, but she was technically superior. Every move she executed was textbook, and she was able to win a match by decision (6-3): two pins, and a forfeit. Watching her wrestle was so fun because she’s so good.”
On Sunday, 14 wrestlers competed at the St. Paul’s Girls Tournament, with two individual champions, Nor DeHoog ’24 and Toni Elliott ’27, leading Andover to a team title. In total,12 of the team’s wrestlers placed in the top five of their weight class.
“We have a lot of less experienced members on our team, so these two weeks in December are about learning moves from all positions and learning to stay in good position. We did that the best we could over the weekend and saw improvement [on Wednesday] in that regard as well. We’re looking to see improvement throughout the season,” wrote Bateman.
Andover dominated Wilbraham and Monson 51-30 in its home opener on Wednesday. Despite the influx of team members who are new to wrestling, Andover’s strength lies in its ability to fill nearly every weight class, according to Nick Lima ’25.
“A strength of our team is the number of wrestlers we have, we have nearly every weight class filled, so we gave up very few forfeits today. While this isn’t a weakness in the long term, a lot of our wrestlers on varsity are new wrestlers, meaning it can be difficult for them to jump into a sport as competitive as wrestling and succeed at the varsity level,” wrote Lima in an email to The Phillipian.
Ophelia Lee ’26 noted that the team’s diligent and technical practice sessions were key in preparation for its matches. She also stressed the critical role of confidence when competing.
Lee said, “This week, we’ve been doing a lot of work on the bottom: hitting switches, reversals, and breaking down after that. And, it translates. I think we had pretty solid work on the bottom today, staying on our base and really just fighting to keep our heads up.”
Lee also noted how the atmosphere on Wednesday was more relaxed and composed compared to previous meets.
“The atmosphere in comparison to other meets was relaxed because it was a dual meet, so that means it was just one other school. Other events have many schools competing, so it’s like tournament style, and there’s more pressure,” said Lee.
Andover Wrestling will compete at the Beast of the East Tournament at the University of Delaware on the weekend of December 15.
