Dani Nugent ’25 won first place in her weight class on Sunday.
Suhaila Cotton ’24 faces off an opponent in the Tenth Annual Phillips Academy Girls Wrestling Tournament.
Sunday 1/28
Andover: 148
Wednesday 1/31
Andover: 54, Thayer: 18
Andover: 54, Governor’s Academy: 30
On Sunday, 96 wrestlers from 41 schools competed in the 10th Annual Female Wrestling Tournament. Andover took the team title, with three members of Team Abbot, the Girls Wrestling team, Suhaila Cotton ’24, Nor DeHoog ’24, and Dani Nugent ’25 winning their weight class. On Wednesday, the team sent most of its wrestlers to a dual meet against Thayer and Governor’s and won both, finishing off its dual meet season. Members of Team Abbot went to Middlesex for a girls’ open event.
Despite losing practice time due to the campus influenza shut down, Team Abbot did not skip a beat. According to Tasha Bohorad ’26, the girls team stayed consistent in its training even without structured practice time.
“A lot of our team was sick, and then because of the flu and school getting shut down, we did not practice… Team Abbot is one of the most hardworking teams on campus. There was no practice, so we went to the gym, we did wrestling outside on the turf, we ran moves on the turf, we did footwork outside. It was cold out, but we were all out there. Then, on Friday, we went for a run, we were in the gym, no one was complaining, everyone wanted to be there, everyone wanted to get better. Then we had practice in Snyder [Center] on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and everyone was there, everyone was preparing for… [Sunday],” said Bohorad.
The day started off with a clinic led by Marisol Nugent ’20, a current wrestler for the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Bohorad noted how valuable it was to learn from a decorated wrestler.
“There was a clinic today by Marisol Nugent… She went over a lot of throws and stuff. It was really cool to see a collegiate wrestler who’s won a lot and is very accomplished, teaching and being a role model. She wrestles for North Carolina, and she did a clinic in the beginning, so she ran the warm-up with all the girls and all the people at the tournament. Then she went over a bunch of moves that she likes to do and she explained how she likes to do them and went through it. So it was really great to just learn from an experienced wrestler outside of our usual social circles,” said Bohorad.
Bohorad highlighted the camaraderie within Girls Wrestling, not just at Andover, but amongst other schools. She mentioned that because it’s such a small program, there is an emphasis on supporting others and not just winning.
“I was talking to girls from so many schools, from Lawrenceville, from St. Paul’s, and everyone’s so supportive. You’ll have a match soon, and these girls that you’ve gone against or you’re going against will wish you good luck and give you constructive criticism or will run a move with you. You can take out anyone in the crowd, and they’ll help you in whatever way they can. Girls wrestling isn’t a huge program and it’s competitive, but it’s not hugely competitive, so everyone just wants to see you succeed,” said Bohorad.
In Wednesday’s dual meet against Thayer and Governor’s, Elliot Chung ’24 noted that drills practiced prior to the meet were helpful in the overall success of the team. He described two specific moves that the team focused on during the week.
Chung said, “In practice we learned the fireman’s dump/carry sequence. So it felt really good to put what we have been practicing into effect in my match. I definitely saw other wrestlers utilizing that move as well, so that was really cool to see. We also learned the Russian sequence, like the Russian grab, where you grab their wrist, but I didn’t really see that utilized today, but [I] definitely [saw] the fireman’s sequences.”
Chung highlighted the intense focus possessed by all members of Wrestling going into Wednesday’s dual meet. He mentioned that the hands-on nature of wrestling served as motivation for members of the team to focus on their challenge matches.
“It was a pretty standard dual meet, so it wasn’t like tensions were extremely high, but people definitely came ready to compete, ready to give it their all. Wrestling is definitely unique in that, at the end of the day, it’s a combat sport, so people are locked in. They were ready to try their hardest to win their matches,” said Chung.
Nick Lima ’25 highlighted Caleb Beroukhim ’27 for his strong performance when stepping up for an injured Captain. Looking forward, he noted the importance of defense and sprawling technique, in addition to cardio.
“I think Caleb Beroukhim wrestled well, our Captain [George Ryckman ’24] is injured, so Caleb was taking his place… I think the whole team needs to work on our defense and sprawling, and you can always work on cardio,” wrote Lima in an email to The Phillipian.
Wrestling will compete at the Northern New England tournament at Hyde (ME).
