Academic Magnet is home to many varsity sports teams; However, one of my first experiences with Magnet sports is that of the wrestling coach coming up and attempting to recruit me. While I had to respectfully decline, I wanted to highlight the current wrestling team and their status.

Some terms to know:
When someone is listed as a number, that is the weight that they are wrestling in.
When someone “trees” they wrestle well.
Techfall- when you have 15 more points than your opponent, they stop the match and you win

This year’s wrestling team is different from previous years as a majority of the team is new. Most of the varsity lineup is first years with two freshmen on the varsity team. The two freshmen are Rami Abbas and Jayden Cao.

Jayden is the 138 this year which is one of the hardest weight classes to wrestle. Jayden is a quick learner and trees his best in matches.

Rami is wrestling the 190 this year. Rami likes to joke around and likes to challenge more experienced wrestlers in practice. Rami and Jayden bring a great comedic value to the team that all have grown to love.

This year brought a lot of sophomores to the team with most being first years and a couple experienced wrestlers. There are 3 sophomores on varsity, Nick, Briggs, Max, Ben, and Elliot.

Nick is the 106 this year and “the rookie of the season”. Nick despite being a first year is a natural at wrestling, with him winning many of his matches even against more experienced wrestlers. He is a quick learner, good teammate, and has had an overall positive win record this season.

Briggs is the 126 and the raptors most experienced wrestler. This is allegedly his 5th year wrestling and he has already achieved many things. He was a state qualifier last year and placed 3rd at the pre-season King of the County tournament. He has had a very good win record so far this year and he is expected to do well at Lower-States and eventually the State tournament.

Max Hansen is the 132 and had an eventful season. He joined halfway through last year’s wrestling season and has continued to wrestle well into this year. He has had many exciting matches this year, one where he won his match in the first period by techfall. Their coach was very happy about this win and has been calling him “Richter” since then. He is also the region champ of his weight class.

Ben Fox is the newest teammate at the 150 and has only had a couple matches. He got his first win at regionals a week or two ago and will be going to Lower States with the rest of the varsity team.

Elliot is the 144, but isn’t wrestling because he had to get surgery. Despite this, he has had many good matches as a new wrestler and there are high hopes for him next year.

This year’s team has 0 seniors so the lineup is mainly composed of juniors. This includes: Andrew Foggon, Sidhanth Omarju, Samba Diallo, Will Baldrose, Reese Szymkowicz, Dean Barnwell, and Andrew Wolfeil.

Andrew Foggon is the 115 this year and is a first year. Andrew is hardworking and has had many hard matches this year.

Sid is the 120, he is Briggs’ wrestling partner and they often compete in practice. Sid joined as a sophomore last year and was a State Qualifier. He is a backbone of the team and often keeps team morale up.

Samba is the 157 and despite it being his first year has done very well. Many of his matches have been uphill wins with most of his opponents having more experience than him. Samba and his wrestling partner Will work hard in practice, and are quick learners. Samba is a great beginner wrestler and is expected to do good things at Lowerstates.

Will, like Samba, is the other 157 and is a first year. He’s a hard worker and quick learner and an overall great addition to the team.

Reese is the 165 of the team and one of the team captains. He has been wrestling since freshman year and loves it. He was a State qualifier last year and has done pretty well this season so far.

Dean is the 175, and has also been wrestling since freshman year. He is one of the only people on the team to wrestle for magnet, but goes to SOA, and has had a good season this year. He is a State qualifier and pretty serious during practice, don’t let this fool you because he also loves to have some fun.

Both Reese and Dean are captains which requires more management and responsabilites to keep the team on track.

Andrew Wohlfeil is the 215 and has been wrestling since freshman year. He has had an insane season this year and works hard in practice.

Their next match is the Lower State tournament on Feb 14, and is a qualifying tournament for the State tournament.

If you see any of these wrestlers, be sure to wish them luck!