Over winter long weekend, Varsity Wrestling traveled to the Hyde School in Bath, Maine, for the annual New England Independent School Wrestling Association’s Class A Tournament. The tournament consisted of wrestlers from prep schools across New England competing in a double-elimination bracket. Overall, the team performed well, with captain Holden Zerega ’20 taking second place, Edwin Lopez ’23 taking fourth place, Charlie Katarincic ’22 taking fifth place, and Sam Schamis ’21 taking sixth place in their respective weight classes.
The tournament was the first major competition for many of the wrestlers, and it was a worthwhile learning experience. “We learned resilience,” Zerega said. “We had a few hard matches in the beginning with some hard losses, but the wrestlers really bounced back.” The team was especially proud of the high finishes of Lopez and Katarincic, who are both new to the team this year.
The results from the Class A Tournament marked a high-point in the team’s season. Last year’s team consisted of a strong group of seniors, so the newcomers this year have had to compete in higher divisions. However, since the team currently only has one active senior, it has a lot of room to improve. “Going forward, we definitely have the potential to grow the team and rebound,” Zerega said.
“This year has been a very good learning year for the team,” said Head Coach Mr. Erik Freeman. “They learned how to wrestle a lot better overall. Most of our wrestlers this year are new to the sport and have had to learn everything from scratch.”
Unlike other teams at Choate, like the basketball or football teams, wrestling has trouble relying on athletes coming to Choate who have wrestled in the past. Instead, experienced teammates and coaches have to dedicate a lot of time to teaching new athletes the complicated rules and techniques of the sport.
Since it is already February, the team has only two more weeks of training left. Zerega, Lopez, and Katarincic were the only Choate wrestlers who qualified for the Varsity New England Championships this weekend, February 14 and 15, held at the State Armory in Hartford. If Zerega, Lopez, or Katarincic were to place sixth or higher at New England’s, they would qualify for Nationals, which would take place the following weekend, February 22, at Lehigh University, in Pennsylvania. All of the other wrestlers on the team who did not qualify for Varsity New England’s will travel to JV New England’s, which will also be held that day.
All of the wrestlers look to carry their momentum after a Class A Tournament showing to both Varsity and JV New England’s.
