Wrestling Defeats St. Paul's and Brooks at Dual Meet
Despite snowy weather conditions, boys’ wrestling traveled to Brooks School to face Brooks as well as St. Paul’s School in a dual meet. Big Red came out on top against both schools by a considerable margin, and dominated its competition with decisive wins in most of its matches. They defeated Brooks and St. Paul’s with scores of 60-15 and 51-16, respectively.
This dual meet improved Big Red’s season record to 2-3. However, their current record isn’t fully indicative of their current performance this season. Prior to this meet, varsity wrestling was forced to spread out their players to different meets in the region. One tournament the team attended did not allow five year seniors to compete. Another one took place over Thanksgiving break, and many members of the team were unable to attend. These competitions disadvantaged Exeter since the team couldn’t compete to its full potential.
At the dual meet last Saturday, Exeter was finally able to come together and take a win against their first opponents from within the Class A New England league. Co-captain and senior Quinn Abrams noted, “Earlier in the season, we were going to a lot of different matches. This time, we were able to be a cohesive team.”
Big Red athletes performed well at the meet—one of the major highlights of the meet was prep and newcomer Tyler Morris’ match. Morris pinned his opponent in the first period within 32 seconds, an astonishing feat. Abrams praised Morris’ grit and resilience both in practice and in matches. “He dedicates a lot of time and effort to the sport—loves to be a part of the team,” Abrams said. “He definitely puts 120% effort when he’s in the match. It was fun to see him out there.”
“Earlier in the season, we were going to a lot of different matches. This time, we were able to be a cohesive team.”
Morris attributes the team’s success to the group’s encouraging environment. “The team performed well, I thought that we showed a lot of camaraderie,” he said. “We’re just focused on making each other better. Everyone performed well and we supported each other.”
Abrams described the mentality of the team as disciplined and diligent. “We’re working hard no matter what the competition level is. We’re always competing as if we have the toughest match of our lives,” he explained.
When asked about an area of improvement for the team, Abrams suggested more team spirit, especially during meets. “Maybe we need to be louder when we’re on the benches when we’re cheering for our teammates,” he said.
Exeter will be trying to carry their momentum from these two dominant wins into this weekend. On Saturday, Big Red will be traveling to Deerfield to compete in a quad meet. Even though it is early in the season, the varsity wrestling team is still looking to defeat their in-league opponents leading up to the New England wrestling tournament.