Wrestling triumphs over NMH
Last Saturday, in the team’s first home meet of the season, Exeter, ranked number one in the league, faced Northfield Mount Hermon School, ranked second in the league. Coming off five straight wins, Big Red defeated its opponent with an impressive score of 53-21, improving its current season record to 6 wins and 3 losses.
Leading up to the meet, Big Red was excited by the fact that it would compete in a home crowd environment, a venue that was rare for the Exeter team. This was only the third home meet that Exeter has hosted in the past three years. The team spread the word about this meet at Friday’s assembly, encouraging members of the Exeter community to give their support.
A number of excited students and faculty attended the meet in Thompson Gym. Senior Josh Hemintakoon said that he was thrilled by the overwhelming support. “Our home match had the largest crowd for wrestling in my four years here,” he said. “It was great to have the support at home for a big match.” With the bleachers packed with Exonian supporters, the team had an advantage going into the meet.
“We tried to spread the word as much as possible this year and we had a much bigger turnout than previous years.”
Co-captain and senior Joey Rossetti agreed with Hemintakoon, explaining that he thought that the large turnout improved the team’s performance. “We tried to spread the word as much as possible this year and we had a much bigger turnout than previous years,” he said. “I think everyone on the team fed into the hype and wrestled well.”
The entire match was filled with intense matches and strong performances from each wrestler. Hemintakoon explained that the two teams scored 74 points out of a maximum of 84 points combined. With such a definitive win, the Exeter team proved that it rightfully owns the top rank in the legue.
The team’s win was highlighted by many strong performances from competitors such as Rossetti and his fellow co-captains, seniors Quinn Abrams and AJ Pedro. Rossetti, Abrams and Pedro impressively pinned their opponents in around 90, 60 and 45 seconds, respectively.
Their wins contributed much-needed points to the team total. These quick matches helped the team jump out to an early lead, but it was a true team effort for this victory.
Even though Exeter won against one of its closest rivals, the team recognized areas of improvement. Rossetti said that although the team was very strong as a whole, it can collectively work on technical details. “We all can definitely improve on moving more on our feet, and setting up shots to get takedowns,” he said. Hemintakoon also encouraged his teammates to stay healthy especially as the team approaches tournament season. Absences, he explained, are particularly hard to substitute in wrestling because the athletes are separated into distinct weight classes.
Exeter will be hosting another dual meet this coming Saturday in the Thompson Gym. Similar to the NMH meet, the team will advertise the match with the hopes of drawing another big crowd. The team will go up against both the Bidstrup and Seabrook schools on Jan. 28. Big Red looks to extend its winning streak and produce more dominant performances as the team begins to near New England Championships.