Wrestling To Send Five to Nationals

Five Hotchkiss wrestlers earned trips to next weekend’s National Prep tournament by placing in their weight classes at the New England championships.

Ben Johnson ’22 placed fourth at 195 lbs. and Sean Donovan ’23 placed fifth at 220 lbs. in the open division, and Kadie Singh ’25 (120 lbs.), Sadie Salter ’25 (126 lbs.), and Aimee Carrasco ’24 (132 lbs.) each placed fourth in the girls division to book their trip to Maryland this upcoming weekend.

Overall, the team finished tied for 16th place with hosts Deerfield.

As with last week, here are some highlights from head coach Cooper Puls:

“We brought seven wrestlers in the open division, as well as five wrestlers competing in the girls' division, which is as many as we've brought in my time coaching the team, and there was a ton of great wrestling by all.

“Highlight performances from the day include:

  1. Adam Wright ’24 at 138 lbs., unseeded in a tough bracket and dropping a hard match to the #7 seed in his opening match, wrestled back and beat two tough opponents before being knocked out of the bracket by the #3 seed from Exeter.  He went 2-2 on the day, which for a 10th grader in his first shot at New Englands is a pretty awesome performance!
  2. Peter Barkley ’23 at 126 lbs., also unseeded, also going 2-2 in a tough weight class.  Peter is an 11th grader, and will be back next year ready to wrestle his way to the podium.
  3. Duncan Griffin ’22 at 285 lbs., also unseeded, and also going 2-2 on the day.  In one of the most competitive heavyweight brackets in years, Duncan managed a stalwart performance as a capstone to his career, which started a mere three years ago as a young 10th grader on the Hotchkiss team.
  4. Sean Donovan ’23 at 220 lbs., taking fifth place and earning a trip to Nationals this coming weekend.  He lost a heart-breaker to the #1 seed from NMH in the consi-semifinals, and came back strong against the #4 seed from Choate, pinning him in the fifth place match to end his day with a win.
  5. Ben Johnson ’22 at 195 lbs., who outwrestled his seed and placed fourth.  Ben, who is the longest-serving member of the Bearcat team, wrestled like a man possessed, notching an astonishing seven bouts and almost 40 minutes of wrestling over the course of the day.  The highlight of the day for him came in the consi-semifinals, his sixth match, in which he faced an opponent from Salisbury who'd beaten him in the finals of our league tournament last weekend.  With patience, intelligence, and the heart of a champion, Ben pulled out a 6-5 win and avenged his loss, at the same time earning a trip to Nationals this weekend.

“In addition to those five, three of our wrestlers in the girls bracket – Aimee Carrasco ’24 at 132 lbs., and Sadie Salter ’25 at 126 lbs. and Kadie Singh ’25 at 120 lbs. – placed fourth in their weight classes, earning trips to Nationals.”

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