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Wrestling

Wrestling loses to high ranked Natick squad

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[media-credit name=”Maliha Ali” align=”alignleft” width=”300″] Senior Nick Mariano wrestles with Jordan Long ’12 in the dance studio Friday.

by Adam Rabinowitz

Wrestling, 6-5, lost 50-25 at home to Natick Wednesday in a match that could have gone either way, according to coach John Staulo.

“Although Natick is ranked fourth in the State, its skill level is not that high. They have a few good guys, but shouldn’t be ranked that highly,” said Staulo. “The only reason why they are ranked that high is because of a tournament.”

According to Staulo, the Tigers played well, and they could have won. “We had a lot of players that played well, but in the end, inexperience is what hurt us. We had a bunch of matches that we could have won but didn’t,” he said.

Senior Nick Mariano, the captain, said that although the team lost, some students played really well. “We had four wins in the match, with freshman Ben Shale and senior Ian Wittrup getting pins and senior Steven Paton and I also won our matches.”

Mariano said that if the team continues to work hard, they will do much better. “We had a lot of close matches that could have gone our way. If we work hard and keep training, we will hopefully win more matches.”

The team’s next match is Wednesday at Wellesley.

January 11, 2013 0 comment

Sports Winter Wrestling

Wrestling, 6-4, loses to Braintree

written by The Newtonite

by Adam Rabinowitz

Wrestling, 6-4, lost 52-16 to Braintree Thursday in a meet that should have been an easy win, according to coach John Staulo.

“Our team was expecting some of our better guys to win their matches,” Staulo said. “Even the other team was expecting our guys to win. Some of our younger players lost some of their confidence, seeing how the better players lost.”

Staulo believes the Tigers lost because they were rusty after the vacation. “Some of the players’ heads aren’t really in the game right now. This was a typical after-vacation match, but we still should have won,” he said.

Staulo also said, “Braintree is an average team. It should have gone the other way.”

Despite this loss, Staulo says the new players are developing quite well. “So far so good,” he said. “The new players keep on getting better and better.”

Staulo also said that in the coming up matches, health will play a big part in the team’s success. “Experience is important, and with a short season, we have to get back in midseason form and win some games. We have to stay healthy and work hard,” he said.

The team’s next match is Wednesday at Natick.

January 8, 2013 0 comment

Sports Winter Wrestling

Wrestling, 3-1, loses to Framingham

written by The Newtonite

by Adam Rabinowitz

Wrestling, 3-1, lost 36-34 at home to Framingham Wednesday, according to coach John Staulo.

Senior Nick Mariano, the captain, said that the team had a shot at beating Framingham, but unfortunately fell short. “Framingham has a pretty good program, but we went out and wrestled well. They only won at the very end when they had the momentum going their way.”

Mariano said that some of the Tigers’ new members were strong. “A few new guys stepped up and wrestled hard for us, especially freshman Zachary Ruben,” he said.

The lineup featured some ups and downs, according to Staulo. “The upper half of the lineup needs to improve. There was a lot of success in the first half, we just need to carry that on into the second half,” he said. “Some of the kids put forth a good effort and theirs didn’t. We had a lot of success in the first half, but not so much in the second half.”

The squad’s next match is Wednesday at Dedham.

December 19, 2012 0 comment

Sports Winter Wrestling

Wraps: Wrestling makes playoff run

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by David Kwartler

Wrestling, 8-9, ended its season after an impressive playoff run Saturday, Feb. 25 at All-States.

Despite having a losing record for the first time in 10 years, the team gained valuable experience. Coach John Staulo said, “We had inexperienced and injured wrestlers at times, but we did well.”

Three wrestlers progressed to Sectionals. Senior Jordan Long, a captain with seniors Pat Bryson, Zach Ferguson and junior Nick Mariano, competed in All-States after competing through Sectionals and States.

Long was named a Bay State Conference all-star.

Next year’s captains are to be decided

June 6, 2012 0 comment

Sports Winter Wrestling

Victory over Brookline propels wrestling into Sectionals

written by The Newtonite

by David Kwartler

Wrestling is looking forward to the postseason with high hopes. It finished its season Tuesday with a record of 8-9-0 after a 39-33 win against Brookline. “The team is getting ready for competing in sectionals on Saturday,” said coach John Staulo.

Senior Jordan Long, a captain with seniors Pat Bryson, Zach Ferguson and junior Nick Mariano, said, “We’re all hopeful for the postseason and looking to qualify for states.”

The team’s strength lies in its experienced wrestlers. “We have strong heavyweights and middleweights; lower weights are mostly freshmen and they are inexperienced,” said Long. The team struggled with missing injured players.

“Two of the captains being hurt, it’s very difficult to establish leadership. The other two guys on the mat did a great job. Leadership is key in wrestling. You have to have somebody for the inexperienced kids to follow, so even though leadership was depleted, it was still strong,” Staulo said.

Ferguson has been out all season with a shoulder injury. Bryson also missed most of the season. However, “Bryson wrestled last weekend against Walpole and was the deciding factor in our win,” Long said.

In wrestling, experience plays an important part in the strength of the team. “Injuries hurt us a lot. We had to put in inexperienced wrestlers to fill their spots,” Staulo said.

Despite missing two captains for the season and having inexperienced wrestlers in the spotlight, the team has performed very well, according to Staulo. “You wrestle at sectionals and the top four in each weight class qualify in states. The kids are getting ready both mentally and physically as well as trying to stay healthy in preparation for sectionals,” Staulo said.

The team wrestles in sectionals tomorrow, and every wrestler hopes to be one of the top four of their weight class and to move forward in the postseason to state-wide matches.

February 3, 2012 0 comment

Sports Winter Wrestling

Wrestling claims season’s second victory

written by The Newtonite

by Gloria Li

Wrestling, 6-2, matched up against Dedham Wednesday, Dec. 21, at home, claiming a 57-21 victory.

“There have been too many injuries so far this season,” coach John Staulo said.

According to Staulo, despite the fact that there have been “ifs and buts,” the team has been able to pull it together to win this match.

Senior Mwumburi Makaia, the team’s heavy weight wrestler “has been 4-0 in all of his past appearances this season,”according to senior Jordan Long, a captain with junior Nick Mariano,

Staulo noted that Makaia was sick and “going to sit out,” but because the team was in need of another member to fill a spot, “I decided to put him in.”

Throughout the match, “Makaia wasn’t feeling too well, but he definitely managed to overachieve and win the team points even though he was sick,” Staulo said.

Commending Long and Mariano, Staulo said they “made pins and lead the team” during the match.

Long said, “Everyone worked hard,” noting that freshman Eddie Trayner “made an effort to step up despite being sometimes outmatched.”

At the match, Staulo said, five freshmen were put to the test and “they all did excellent jobs as it was their first year on the team despite not earning many points.”

Freshman Joe Acuri won by forfeit as the other team did not have a match-up member.

In front of the home crowd, according to Long, “we had some good wins with the seniors pulling tough moves and a young, involved line-up.”

Although the team did not beat Dedham by as much as they did last year, Long said, “sickness and injuries at this point” have contributed to the difference in scores.

December 22, 2011 0 comment

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