The varsity coed wrestling team traveled to Baltimore to participate in the Digital Duals from Friday, Jan. 24 to Saturday, Jan. 25. The duals, hosted by Digital Harbor High School, saw the Wildcats going head to head against nine other teams.
To start off the Duals matches, the Cats went a strong 4-0 on day one. The Wildcats scored 40 points or more against Franklin (40-39), Digital Harbor (46-32), Joppatowne (66-15) and Forest Park High Schools (45-36).
Day two saw the Wildcats continue the win streak against New Town (51-24), Edmondson (48-29), Kenwood (52-24) and Meade High Schools (45-29), where the Wildcats moved on to the championship match against Williamsport. The Wildcats lost the championship 48-36, finishing 8-1 overall and placing second.
“In our last match, we started off strong,” senior wrestling captain Hudson Barrett said. “I’m proud of most of the guys there.”
Those who exceeded expectations were junior Daniel Gershon, who finished a perfect 9-0 with 7 falls, and junior Filippos Kakos, who also finished 9-0 with 6 falls.
“I feel pretty good, I beat this kid that beat me the other time,” Kakos said, “I think we did pretty good, second place is not that bad because we were also missing three of our [teammates].”
The competition capped off a strenuous four days for WJ’s wrestlers, who were faced with an overall 11 matches in that span.
The Cats won their match against Seneca Valley, 45-23, on Wednesday, Jan. 22. There were four girls’ varsity matches to start off the duals, with senior Maddox Zuniga and sophomores Leah Krensky and Essence Clarke securing pins.
Then, the Cats fell to Quince Orchard and Queen Anne’s County High Schools on Jan. 23 at community night, losing 38-34. Senior Sam Potter, juniors Daniel Gershon, Jordan Alexiev, Hank Amaditz and sophomore Bamdad Hajati won both matches in back-to-back days.
The coed team notched another win against Einstein Titans, 48-29, during the home game on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Winning for the girls’ side were senior Alex Mockel and junior Sonia Pegoue. Those who won by forfeit in the coed match were senior Sophia Matos and juniors Cole Naylor, Zachary Kaplan and Jack Lee.
Wrestlers return to the mat in an away meet on Saturday, Feb. 1, against Northwest High School. Varsity starts at 1:00 p.m., followed by JV at 2:00 p.m.
