Wrestling Defeats St. Paul’s, NMH, and Brooks

A wrestling tournament took place between Brooks, NMH, St. Paul’s School and Phillips Exeter Academy on Saturday, resulting in a decisive victory for Big Red. Exeter was able to ensure their dominance, posting wins of incredible margins over some of the best schools in the New England Prep League. Although the season has just started, the boys’ wrestling team is set to have a favorable season, starting off the year with a record 3-2 in the New England Prep League.Exeter got off to a solid start, with upper Kelechi Nwankwoala winning all three of his matches during the day. Co-captain and upper Quinn Abrams commented on Nwankwoala’s outstanding performance. “For a two-year wrestler, he really did his part, going 3-0 against some of the most competitive teams in our league,” he said.While the team controlled the tournament, winning 54-25, 60-19 and 66-9 against Brooks, NMH and SPS, respectively, upper Abhijay Bhatnagar is still excited to see what the team is able to do later in the season. “We were still all a bit rusty from winter break, and it showed. Once we’re all back in shape, the team will be an even greater force to reckon with,” he said.Last year, Big Red defeated Brooks in the regular season with a score similar to this year’s, and then placed first at the New England wrestling championship, beating out Brooks, placing directly under them, for a second time that season. With a start to this year’s season as strong as it has been, the team hopes to repeat their win at the New England championship.Bhatnagar also commented on the skill of the varsity team this year, with newer wrestlers such as Nwankwoala stepping up and consistently competing at such high level. “Even though we dominated at this tournament, this was nothing too special. We’ve been practicing hard and this was just the consequence of the work that we’ve put into the sport,” he said.The team looks forward to a rather full season, competing in three tournaments in the next three weeks, the first one being held at Tabor Academy. This tournament poses extra challenge to Big Red, seeing that Tabor Academy has gone 20-1 this season. However, the team’s captains hope to see the same effort, determination and performance at these upcoming competitions as defending New England champs.