The last meet of the season has St. Paul's going up against two ISL teams – Middlesex School from Concord, MA and St. Mark's School of Southborough, MA. The first dual was against Middlesex school and started at the 106 lb weight class. Unfortunately, the meet started with a lackluster forfeit win for Vith former Maddie Morse to give St. Paul's the first points of the day. Following that, there was a loss at 113lbs for St. Paul's in a quick and aggressive match against a strong opponent. After the loss at 113, St. Paul's notched another three wins via forfeit from the thin Middlesex ranks. 138lbs was the next match where St. Paul's suffered its last wrestling loss of the dual where
Addison Ramsey competed valiantly against a much more experienced opponent. Following the loss there were 3 forfeits, netting St. Paul's 12 points and MX 6 points. Charlier Lussier was back at 165 today and put on a clinic against a tough opponent, winning by pin in the first period. The next, and last, bout was a monumental task for
Tristan Ho as he stepped up to the challenge of wrestling up in weight class to cover a hole in the St. Paul's lineup. He wrestled hard and smart, netting a 10-8 win! Two more forfeits by MX followed with the final score of the dual standing at 66-18, a strong win for Big Red!
The next dual of the day was against St. Mark's where St. Paul's hoped to keep momentum going and secure New England placements for multiple wrestlers. Similar to the first dual of the day, 106 was a forfeit by the opposing team followed by a hard-fought match at 113 resulting in the meet score even at 6-6.
Caitlin O'Reilly stepped onto the mat for her 120lb match and proceeded to take control of the match from the very start. She wrestled smart and technical scoring a quick takedown and imposing her will to net a pin in the first round. In the next match at 126lbs,
Noah Lu set the pace of the match with his aggressive offense looking to employ his signature underhook takedowns. He ended up securing a single leg, switching to a double, and eventually finishing the pinning combination with an armbar!
Ciaran O'Reilly took the mat for his 132lb match and similar to the matches before, he immediately pressed the offense and took control. He wrestled smart, technically, and took time to slow down on critical transitions between his chain wrestling securing points. He ended up pinning his opponent bringing the meet score to 24-6. Unfortunately, the next 4 matches ended up in losses for St. Paul's followed by a win via forfeit for St. Pauls, tying the score at 30-30 going into the 175 match.
Odin Delorey wrestled hard in his match against a more experienced wrestler and ultimately lost via pin. A loss at 190 lead to
Cooper Lussier winning handily in his 215lb match bringing St. Paul's back to within 6 points of St. Mark's. The last match of the day was a hard-fought drag out heavyweight bout with Hans Weiderkehr taking on the number 4 ranked heavyweight in New England. He utilized a strong offense of ducks, throwbys, and head attacks eventually opening up opportunities as his opponent tired. In the last period of the match, Hans nailed a head and arm throw and won the match by pin, tying the meet score 42-42. St. Paul's ultimately won the meet on the basis of forfeiting less matches than the opponent, an aspect of this match that would not be possible without the notable contributions of
Xalix Jaquez, Aidan Cho, and
Tristan Ho – all of whom stepped up to the plate to shoulder varsity matches as new wrestlers or to wrestle up from their normal weight class, sometimes both!
St. Paul's rounds out the regular season with 2 strong wins against MX and St. Marks!
