Wrestling AGV at NEPSWA Championships (hosted by Deerfield)

4 placers in the Prep Division, 5 champs in the Girls Division

17 Andover wrestlers traveled to Deerfield Academy for the New England Prep School Wrestling Association Championships on Saturday February 19^th. In the prep division, co-captain Colin Nugent ’23 led the way by advancing all the way to the finals. In the round of 16, he pinned his Greens Farms opponent in the first period. In the quarterfinals, Nugent pinned his Nobles opponent in 42 seconds. In his semifinals match, Nugent had a dominant 7-1 performance over his Pomfret opponent. In the finals he lost to a tough opponent from Belmont Hill. He went 3-1, placed 2^nd, and qualifies for the National Prep Tournament.

At 113 lbs George Ryckman ’24 pinned his Greens Farms opponent in the round of 16 in 24 seconds. In the quarterfinals he pinned his Roxbury Latin opponent in just over a minute. He lost his semifinals match to the eventual champion. In the coni semifinals Ryckman outscored his NMH opponent 6-2 before finally sticking the pin in the 3^rd period, and in a 3^rd place match, he pinned his Roxbury Latin opponent in the second period. George is 4-1, places 3^rd, and qualifies for the National Prep Tournament.

At 126 lbs co-captain Arnav Bhakta ’22 defeated his Exeter opponent 6-2 in the round of 16. He lost his quarterfinals match to a tough Trinity Pawling opponent, who was the eventual champion of the weight class and the light weight Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. In the consoliation round of 8 Bhakta pinned his Avon Old Farms opponent in 34 seconds, and in the consolation round of 4 he defeated his Roxbury Latin opponent 7-2. He then lost a tough 2-6 decision to his Nobles opponent and lost 5-12 to his St. Mark’s opponent. Bhakta is 3-3 on the day, places 6^th and qualifies for the National Prep Tournament.

At 132 lbs Miles Palmer ’23 pinned his Trinity Pawling opponent in the second period in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals he defeated his Brunswick opponent 7-1. In the semifinals he lost to the eventual champion of the weight class. In the consolation semifinals Miles pinned his Tabor opponent in the 3^rd period. He lost his final match to a tough Belmont Hill opponent. Miles is 3-1 on the day, places 4^th and qualifies for the National Prep Tournament.

Also competing for Andover were Glen Cahilly ’23, Bodhi Beroukhim ’25, Ben Forman ’23, and Somen Chakrabortti ’22. The team placed 9^th out of 39 teams in the Prep Division.

In the Girls Division we had 5 individual champions. At 107 lbs Sakina Cotton ‘24 opened the tournament with a 39 second pin over her NMH opponent in the quarterfinals. In the semfinals she defeated her Deerfield opponent 9-2. In the finals she pinned her Governor’s opponent in the second period after reversing her opponent and putting her on her back. Sakina is 3-0 on the day and New England Champion. She will compete at Nationals next weekend.

At 126 lbs Wendi Zheng ’24 pinned her Hotchkiss opponent in 29 seconds in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals Zheng pinned her Governor’s opponent in 48 seconds. In an exciting finals match, Zheng was able to defend her opponents headlock and score the takedown. While trying to run an arm bar her opponent was able to reverse her, but Wendi then scored her own reversal, and then pinned her opponent with a half nelson. Wendi is 3-0 on the day and New England Champion. She will compete at Nationals next weekend.

At 132 lbs Dani Nugent '25 pinned her Governor’s opponent in 22 seconds in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals she pinned her Marionapolis Prep opponent in 20 seconds. In the semifinals she pinned her Hotchkiss opponent in 21 seconds, and in the finals she pinned her St. Mark’s opponent in 56 seconds. Dani is 4-0 on the day and New England Champion. She will compete at Nationals next weekend.

After returning to the mat last week after a TBI, senior Giselle Jones-Mollod entered the tournament unseeded. In the first round of her round robin bracket at 152 lbs, Giselle outscored her NMH opponent 6-1 before her opponent had to injury default out of the match. In her second match, Giselle pinned her Andover teammate in the first period. In her final match against a tough Governor’s opponent, the first period went scoreless. In the second period Giselle chose bottom, and was able to reverse her opponent with a switch attempt that resulted in a mat return and pinned with a half nelson. Giselle is 3-0 on the day and New England Champion. She will compete at Nationals next weekend.

At 235 lbs Eleanor DeHoog ’24 pinned her NMH opponent in a minute and 31 seconds. In her second match Nor took her opponent down with a blast double and pinned her with a half nelson. Nor is 2-0 on the day and New England champion. She will compete at Nationals next weekend.

At 120 lbs Eva Murphy ’25 pinned her Choate opponent in the first period of the quarterfinals. In an exciting back and forth semifinals match with her Deerfield opponent, Eva was losing the match 5-7 and was on top in the third period. With 43 seconds left in the match, she cut her opponent and took her to her back with a headlock, pinning her with 35 seconds left in the match. In the finals she lost a tough 9-3 match to a strong Tabor opponent. Eva is 2-1 on the day, places 2^nd, and will compete at Nationals next weekend.

In the round robin bracket of 152 lbs, Isa Matloff ’24 lost her first two matches, before winning her third match due to injury default. She is 1-3 on the day and places 3^rd at New Englands. Also competing well for Andover were Sonia Xiong ’24, who went 1-2 at 107 lbs, and Julia Carmona ’24, who lost a really exciting match in the quarterfinals and went 0-2 on the day.

All of these efforts earned the Andover 1^st place in the team race with 159 total points. The second place team (Governor’s) had 90 points, and the third place team (Deerfield) had 83 points.

At the coaches meeting Head Coach Kassie Archambault was awarded Coach of the Year, as voted by her fellow NEPSWA head coaches.

The team travels to Upper Marlboro, MD on Thursday for the National Prep tournament!