Andover has 6 champions and 9 placers between Prep and Girls Divisions
The 75th Annual NEPSWA championships were hosted at Andover in the Snyder Center on Friday February 17th and Saturday February 18th. Andover had 7 wrestlers competing in the Prep Division, and 15 wrestlers competing in the Girls Division.
In the Prep Division, freshman Julian Rios led the way at 106 lbs, with a pin in the quarterfinals, a pin in the semifinals, and an exciting 3-2 win in the finals to become Andover’s most recent New England Champion in the Prep division. Our last New England champion was Haroldo Nesbeth ’17, who was at the tournament to cheer on and support all of our wrestlers. Senior co-captains Colin Nugent ’23 and Miles Palmer ’23 also had a good showing at the tournament. At 150 lbs Colin had two pins and a technical fall on route to the finals, where he lost a tough 7-3 battle with his NMH opponent, and placed 2nd. At 138 lbs, Miles Palmer went 4-2 with a pin and 3 decisions to place 5th. Julian, Colin, and Miles all qualify for Nationals in Maryland next weekend. Also competing well for Andover were George Ryckman ’24, Josh Espinoza ’25, Ben Forman ’23, and Thomas O’Brien ’23. Andover placed 9th as a team out of 41 teams.
In the Girls Division, Team Abbot dominated with 224 team points to become repeat Team Champions. The second place team, Choate, had 78.5 team points. Andover had 5 individual champions. At 126 lbs, Eva Murphy went into the tournament as the second seed, as she had lost earlier in the season to the number 1 seed. Murphy had first period pins in the quarterfinals and semifinals, and in the finals she wrestled the best match of her season, dominating her St. Mark’s opponent 13-6 to become New England champion. Immediately following Murphy’s impressive performance, Wendi Zheng ’24 became a repeat New England champion with 3 first period pins in the quarters, semis, and finals. Coming off of an injury, Dani Nugent ’25 had an impressive tournament, with a 36 second pin in the semifinals, and a third period pin in the finals over her Governor’s opponent to become a repeat New England champion. Post-graduate Tayla Tildsley ’23 also had an impressive showing, with 3 first period pins on route to becoming New England champion at 152 lbs. And lastly Team Abbot co-captain Eleanor DeHoog ’24 became a repeat New England champion after earning three pins.
Team Abbot co-captain Sakina Cotton ’24 had a pin in the quarterfinals and semifinals, before losing a back and forth battle to her NMH opponent in the finals, and finished 2nd. At 120 lbs, first-year wrestler Tasha Bohorad had an incredible performance, defeating the number 2 seed in the semifinals 11-8, before losing in the finals to the returning New England champion from Tabor, placing 2nd. First-year wrestler Destiny Covington ’26 also placed 2nd after defeating her Marianapolis Prep opponent with a first period pin in the semifinals.
At 100 lbs, Margaret Tsien ’26 had a first period pin in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, she lost a tough match to her St. Paul’s opponent, but she rallied with a pin and a 4-2 decision to place 3rd. At 114 lbs Suhaila Cotton ’24 was upset in the round of 16 by her Greens Farms opponent, but she battled her way back with a 10-8 decision and 3 pins to place 3rd, going 4-1 at the tournament. At 120 lbs Julia Carmona ’24 had an exciting win in the quarterfinals to an opponent they had previously lost to, but then fell in the semifinals to the eventual champion. Julia battled back with two more pins to place 3rd. At 126 lbs Angie Ceballos-Cardona ’25 lost in the semifinals to the eventual champion, but then defeated her Middlesex opponent 10-6 in the consi-semis, and pinned her Choate opponent to place 3rd. At 145 lbs, Bella Shmuylovich ’26 pinned her Wilbraham opponent and her Hotchkiss opponent; she went 2-2 and placed 4th. Also competing well for Team Abbot were Luke Christodoulou ’24, Ophelia Lee ‘26 and Lilly Villanueva ’25.
A huge thank you to our Athletic Office, to OPP, and to Catering for helping put on an amazing tournament. We could not have hosted without the incredible work that all of these teams put in to make this tournament run smoothly. Thank you!