Girls have 5 All Americans and take 3rd place as a team
14 Andover wrestlers traveled to Lehigh University for the National Prep wrestling championships. Andover qualified 3 boys in the boys division: 106 Devin Akyali, 120 Julian Rios, and 126 Brady Haskell. Akyali ’29 went 1-2. Rios ’26 went 2-2, losing to the eventual champion of his bracket and then medical forfeiting in the consolation round due to injury. Haskell ’28 went 2-2.
In the girls division, five of our wrestlers made it to day 2 and placed top 4. At 100 lbs Serra Akyali won her first two matches by pin and by 3-0 decision, before falling in the finals 5-15 to the U17 World Bronze medalist. At 138 Cindy Zhou ’27 won both of her matches by pin, before losing a tough 6-9 decision in the finals. At 185 Toni Elliott ’27 won both of her matches by pin, before falling in the finals.
At 132, Tasha Bohorad ’26 won two matches by pin before falling in the semifinals to the eventual champion. She rallied in the consolation rounds with two more pins to place 3rd. At 165 Bella Shmuylovich ’26 won her first match by pin, but was then upset in the quarterfinals by the 6 seed. She battled back in the consolation round, including an exciting rematch of the New England finals in the blood round, which she won by pin. She then went on to win her 3rd place match by pin.
Also competing well for Andover were 114 Gauri Bhakta ’28 (3-2), 107 Margaret Tsien ’26 (1-2), 126 Ophelia Lee ’26 (1-2), and 152 Lisa de Boer ’26 (1-2). The team placed 3rd out of 42 teams.