Wrestling Struggles in Class A Tournament

Exeter wrestling came in as the favorite to win the Class A tournament at Loomis Chaffee School, yet even putting up a hard fight, Big Red was not able to take home the title, finishing 4th overall. The competition was tight and Exeter, despite the 4th place finish, was only a few points shy of tournament champion Loomis.Heading into the matches, Exeter wrestling worked very hard to prepare for the big meet. “Our mindset was great, our preparation and intensity in practice were great, we were ready to go,” lower Josh Hemintakoon said. But unfortunately the work in practice was not quite enough to put Exeter on top.The team was short-handed coming in, missing prep A.J. Pedro due to an illness, who has been having an impressive season, ranked 1st in his weight class. “We could have won the tournament with the points A.J. would have provided,” Hemintakoon said. The depleted squad did not worry, though—the team believed they could still win. “We all knew we had to wrestle harder to make up for his absence,” senior captain Curran Sullivan said.Hemintakoon had one of the most exciting matches of the day. He was able to secure a win with a takedown in the last 4 seconds. “It was really close throughout, the crowd felt it and got really loud, but I pulled it out right at the end,” Hemintakoon said about his match. With the win Hemintakoon secured 1st place in the 126 lb weight class.Post-graduate Stone Hart and prep Isaiah Bailey also won the 285 and 113 lb classes respectively. Hart dominated his competitor from Choate with a 10-0 win in the championship. This was a big win for Hart, as he had wrestled the same heavyweight wrestler earlier in the season, but in a much closer battle, 3-1. The difference in outcomes speaks to the work Hart and the rest of the team has put in throughout the season. “Stone had the last match of the day and the crowd was got really loud. They all saw him dominate,” Hemintakoon said. Although Exeter as a team was unable to take home the championship, their tough work still made lasting impressions in the tournament.Big Red is noticing the effects of a long, intense wrestling season. The team will have to work hard to stay disciplined from here on out. “We are going to need more intensity during this week’s practices. We also need to show self-control and maintain our diets. And most importantly we just need the mindset that we are going to win,” upper Nick Felli said.Despite the disappointing loss, Exeter will use this as motivation going into this Saturday’s New England Championship at Brooks. Now 16-3 this season, Big Red will look to bring home its first wrestling title since 2001.