Wrestling Takes Down Tabor Academy and Roxbury Latin

Big Red Wrestling defeated both Roxbury Latin and Tabor Academy 49-30 and 39-35 respectively to sweep their annual tri-meet for the first time in over five years. This win was especially big for Exeter, showing the team’s ability to successfully compete with a program like that of Tabor, which is often considered to be one of the best wrestling schools in the Northeast.The bout with Tabor changed leads throughout the day, but eventually post-graduate Stone Hart’s heavyweight match, which ended in a 14-2 pin in favor of Exeter, won Big Red the contest.“The meet against Tabor was very close, and we only won by four points,” prep AJ Pedro said. “It was a great collective team effort, because everyone realized that every point mattered, and we were resilient. Stone definitely came through and sealed the deal for us, and this win was so big because we haven’t beaten Tabor in a long time.”Along with Hart, senior Sean Haggerty and upper Kelvin Borges had great matches that helped Exeter complete their sweep. Haggerty, who was down by two points late into his match, brought his opponent to the ground three times in the last minute to secure a 6-5 win. “Sean was losing on the points board and came back to win it. It really speaks to him,” upper Nick Felli said. “He is a guy who has been on the wrestling team for the past four years and has worked his way up to be one of the best on the team. The win put Haggerty at 15-4 for the year in the 162-pound weight class.Borges also had an extremely impressive match. At one point during his 8-3 decision trounce, he slammed his opponent down so hard to the mat that the ref stopped the grapple and asked the Tabor athlete if he needed a break. “Kelvin is another guy, like [Haggerty], who worked his way up the past three years. It’s awesome to see him succeed,” Felli said.Exeter has much to look forward to when it comes to the New England Championships in two weeks. With three number one seeds—Hart, Pedro and prep Isaiah Bailey—and a 16-3 record, Exeter looks to make a big push for the New England title. The team agrees that the successful season has been greatly inspired by the leadership of its three captains: seniors Haggerty, Curran Sullivan, and Noah Wright.“As a new kid on the team, it’s been a pretty easy transition, and this is mostly due to the captains,” Pedro said. “They’ve just been solid role models in the wrestling room, and they raise the level in the room by pushing everyone and keeping everyone in line, especially the younger guys. They lead really well by example, and keep us fired up when we compete against teams like Tabor.”“All of them have all worked hard since their freshman years to be captains, and I really respect that, and the team really respects that. They are definitely a big part of why we’ve been successful,” Felli added.The team squares off against Loomis next weekend, before finally wrestling at the New England Championships next Saturday, where Big Red hopes to bring home some hardware and win the first New England Wrestling Championship for Exeter since 2001.