Despite Reid Mosquera’s ’09 impressive 17-second pin against Belmont Hill, the Varsity Wrestling team suffered three tough losses last Saturday. Battered by injury and missing three key wrestlers due to injury, Andover fell by scores of 69-12 to Roxbury Latin, 57-15 to Belmont Hill, and 58-18 to Loomis Chaffee. Andover anticipated its toughest match of the year. Belmont Hill, Loomis, and Roxbury Latin are all currently ranked among the top ten wrestling schools in New England. Although Andover has shown that it can compete with the best of teams, the squad had only two thirds of its regular starting lineup. The team’s spirit was buoyed early in the week by the return to the lineup of starters Teddy Teece ’09 and Mosquera. However, elation soon turned to despair as a small epidemic crippled the team, forcing Ben Elder ’09, Captain Colin Dunn ’09, and Kevin Wood ’07 to miss the meet. Andover started out against perennial ISL powerhouse Roxbury Latin. Captain Akshay Paintal ’07 started off well, pinning his first opponent in just 22 seconds. However, things went downhill from there as Andover proceeded to drop seven straight matches before Hector Cintron ’08 managed to turn things around with a third period pin. Unfortunately, Roxbury Latin swept the rest of the match, winning by a final score of 69-12. Despite the lopsided score, there were several upsides to the match for Andover. Duncan Crystal ‘10 and Mosquera both narrowly lost matches to top wrestlers in their respective weight class. “It was a good learning experience for everyone,” said Chris Latham ’09. After a short break, Andover took to the mat again to face off against top ranked Belmont Hill. Cintron won another close victory by a score of 9-6, while Mosquera took the speed record for the day with a 17 second pin. Alex Gottfried ’09 also picked up his second win of the season. Andover wrestled its best match of the day against Belmont, but they were unable to overcome the talented opposing squad and eventually fell by a score of 57-17. Andover finished the day with a 58-18 loss against Loomis Chaffee, the top ranked team in the Class A league. Coach Rich Gorham ’86 remained optimistic, advising his team to put the previous matches behind and to focus on the upcoming challenge. Taking his advice to heart, Crystal and Co-Captain Paintal bounced back from tough losses against Belmont Hill to pin both of their opponents in under a minute combined. AJ Charles ’07 rebounded as well with a 5-2 win. Andover looks to bounce back strong next weekend in another quad-meet at Brooks.
