Wrestling Takes Class A Title
Nearly a year ago, the Exeter wrestling team traveled to Loomis Chaffee to compete in the Class A New England divisional tournament. The team placed second in the tournament. Being runners up left a sour taste in the mouths of the Exeter wrestlers, sparking a new and important goal for the team.
A year later, on this past Saturday, the wrestling team traveled to the Class A tournament, held at Tabor Academy. The Exeter wrestlers brought their new and improved mentality, intensity and toughness to the tournament. The Big Red wrestlers fought hard in each weight class, proving to the other Class A teams that they indeed meant business. At the end of the day, it all paid off. The Exeter varsity wrestling team brought home the 2015 Class A title.
“Our team mindset going into the tournament was to do as well as we could individually, since we all knew that our individual successes would help out the team on a larger scale.”
It was an astounding performance indeed for the Exeter wrestlers. Winning the tournament was a huge achievement for the team, but another accomplishment was defeating the previously top ranked Tabor wrestling team who, prior to the tournament, had beaten Exeter due to holes in the their weight class line-up. Despite the obstacle, Exeter was able to pursue their goals and thrive in their division once more, becoming Class-A champions for the nineteenth time in Exeter history.
The win was quite remarkable, considering that everyone was equally responsible for the team’s success. Seven of the 11 Exonian wrestlers who traveled to the tournament made the finals. There were six first place finishers (prep Kevin Lyskawa, lowers Joey Rossetti and Quinn Abrams and uppers Josh Hemintakoon, Jeff MacArthur and William Baker), one second place finisher (lower Abhijay Saran) and two third place finishers (upper Steve Cerrone and senior Kelvin Borges). In addition, two wrestlers, lower Kelechi Nwankwoala and senior Hunter Voslow, also made very important contributions to the team’s victory.
“Our team mindset going into the tournament was to do as well as we could individually, since we all knew that our individual successes would help out the team on a larger scale,” said Hemintakoon. “Even though this is an individual sport, it is as much of a team sport as you make of it. That’s what makes wrestling so unique and is the reasoning behind why we were able to work so well together. To earn something as great as this.”
Exeter had found a formula for achieving success and harnessed it tenfold. Everyone stepped up, wrestled hard and contributed to the victory in a necessary way. “It is very rewarding for us to reciprocate in matches exactly what has been practiced over many weeks,” said MacArthur, who won his first Class A title this past weekend and defeated a rival Andover wrestler in the finals. MacArthur’s statement was said with much emphasis.
For Big Red, winning the Class A championship was a great accomplishment for the 2014-15 season. Head coaches Dave Hudson’s and Ethan Shapiro’s hard work, instruction and diligence played large roles in the team’s championship season. Exeter will soon face even tougher challenges this upcoming Saturday and Sunday at the New England Prep tournament and at Lehigh for the 2015 Prep Nationals later this month.