Co-Captain George Ryckman ’24 went 2-2 in the four dual meets on Wednesday.
Dani Nugent ’25 outscored her Phillips Academy Exeter opponent 9-3 to open her undefeated run on Wednesday.
Saturday 1/13 –
Andover: 43, Exeter: 33
Andover: 30, Roxbury Latin: 53
Andover: 48, Deerfield: 33
Andover: 60, Hyde School: 24
After suffering a tough loss against Nobles on January 10, Andover Wrestling (8-4) bounced back on Saturday with wins against Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter), Deerfield, and Hyde School. Co-Captain Sakina Cotton ’24, Julian Rios ’26, and Sebastian Haferd ’25 all led the team with 4-0 individual records in the home meet.
Magnus Julin ’25 emphasized how Saturday’s meet was a test of the team’s endurance and flexibility.
Julin said, “Saturday was definitely a hectic meet because we were facing four different teams, which means a lot of people who normally didn’t wrestle had to step up because wrestling four matches can be tiring… I’d say the thing that stood out to me the most was just how much people were willing to step up out of their comfort zone and wrestle even on very short notice.”
Despite the long match day, every wrestler showed up for the team to support and cheer on their teammates, according to McKenzie Williams ’24.
“It’s great to have the opportunity to have all these schools come to Andover and compete so I was pretty excited to see everybody. Our team was really good about cheering each other on and even though it was a really long day, we were there for all six hours cheering each other on,” said Williams.
Against Roxbury Latin, Andover won just five of the fourteen bouts — its only team loss of the day. Williams emphasized the role of tactical strategies for upcoming meets.
“One of the things we worked on was knowing how to manage when someone has their weight on top of you. One of the things you would do is make yourself into a tripod… so you can kind of shake them off. We also did a lot of knee slides which means if you’re in that tripod position you can slide your knee and get out if need be, so that was also pretty highly utilized,” said Williams.
Bohorad noted how well-informed each wrestler is on their matches. Wrestlers always sought feedback and received support from their teammates to refine their skills.
Bohorad said, “You come off the mat and you will immediately go back to your coach or to your teammates and you’ll watch your film and you’ll be like “Hey can you explain this moment in the match?” You really rely on your teammates to not only tell you what you did, but then drill that move with you.”
Looking forward, Julin hopes that the team can continue working on what they have learned for bigger competitions towards the end of the season. He hopes the team can use the matches between now and the post-season to hone in on its skills and strategies.
“Going into the second half of the season, we’ve had a good amount of matches now, we have gotten a lot of skills down. I think for the rest of the season it’s going to be about cementing our current skills and prepping for Class A [Championships] and New Englands,” said Julin.
Andover Wrestling will head to Northfield Mount Hermon for the Eight Schools Tournament on Saturday.
