1/18 – Andover: 48, Hotchkiss: 36
1/18 – Andover: 36, St. Paul’s: 47
1/18 – Andover: 48, Lawrenceville: 36
1/18 – Andover: 6, Deerfield: 1
Last Saturday, All-Genders Wrestling (7-5) traveled to Choate, participating in an eight-school tournament. The team first won against Hotchkiss, lost to St. Paul’s, and returned with consecutive wins against Lawrenceville and Deerfield, ending the day with an overall 3-1 record.
Gentry Thatcher ’27 expressed his satisfaction with the team’s results and commended everyone for working hard throughout each match. Thatcher emphasized how the team overcame many expectations for its performance, pointing to the last two practices as a significant help for the team in the tournament.
“As a team, it showed that we can do really well because this was a good result, and it shows that we had put a lot of work into this meet beforehand. We had a meet on Wednesday, and we adjusted what we had done for that meet and put a lot of work in over the last two practices, and it made a big difference. We ended up with a great record. Everybody was pleasantly surprised by that and it’s a testament to the team’s ability when we do things right in practice, we end up showing it in the meets,” said Thatcher.
Fitness played a large role in the team’s performance at the meet. Thatcher noted how the prioritization of conditioning as a major training focus leading up to the meet helped athletes better manage their energy throughout their matches.
“We spent a lot of our time in those two practices working on just general conditioning, just to make sure we could go the distance in the matches because it’s a really intense sport. You got quick matches, but you’re putting all your effort into them for six minutes at the maximum, assuming there’s no overtime, so we spent a lot of time on that,” said Thatcher.
Apart from conditioning, the team had worked on pinning combinations and on all three stages of a wrestling match: top, bottom, and neutral. Sean Flynn ’27 further explained the pinning combinations, describing how the team has seen significant improvement since the beginning of the season.
“People have definitely been improving throughout the course of the season with stalling and shooting. I’ve also noticed that there’s been more wrestlers who are more aggressive instead of just hanging back and actually understanding their pinning combinations. We’ve been drilling a lot over and over pinning combinations and setups and all these different things. Different parts in the match that will definitely happen in an actual meet,” said Flynn.
Four wrestlers went 4-0 in all their matches: Sebastian Haferd ’25, Co-Captain Julian Rios ’26, James Bae ’26, and Brady Haskell ’28. Thatcher noted Haferd’s performance, who stood out for his aggressive yet calculated style, and his contributions to the team’s win.
“From a technical standpoint, he jumped out at the gate on every match. He always had a plan and he executed exactly what he needed to do. He got four wins for the team, with at least one of them winning us the match directly, or at least mathematically,” said Thatcher.
Flynn himself had an excellent showing, winning three of his four matches via pin. His only loss was against a wrestler from Hotchkiss, which he wrestled a weight class up.
“I lost to a wrestler from Hotchkiss, which is the first team we played against. He was a good wrestler but I was wrestling up a weight class. I’m originally at 165, but I wrestled up to 175. That was the only match that I went up a weight class to wrestle. It was a tough match. I lost in the second period by pin. But the other three matches I won by pin, so I think I did pretty well,” said Flynn.
Caleb Beroukhim ’27 praised Co-Captain Dani Nugent ’25, who volunteered to wrestle against a tough opponent who she had originally not been scheduled to compete against. Although she ultimately lost, Nugent won all her other matches. Beroukhim noted the team’s promise and expressed his excitement for the rest of the season.
“Dani Nugent had an amazing match in the second meet against St. Pauls. The kid she was going against was a really good player on St. Paul’s. She actually took a step up and told our coach that she wanted to wrestle with him, and she had a great match… After this meet, I’m really hopeful for the rest of the season. We’ll be seeing a lot of these players and teams again. It was a good experience, and we definitely have been improving a lot, so if we keep on that trajectory, I know we’ll do great things,” said Beroukhim.
All-Gender Wrestling will travel to Phillips Exeter Academy on Saturday.
