A bracket of several inter-squad style winner take all boys’ wrestling matches were held in Hamilton Gymnasium to determine starting varsity and junior varsity slots for select wrestlers on the 2022-2023 team on Thursday, Nov. 10. The girls’ matches were strictly exhibitions, as all girls automatically made the varsity team due to their smaller roster.

The matches occurred in order to determine which singular wrestlers will wrestle this season for each weight class. The winners received spots on the varsity team, while the others placed on the junior varsity team.

Rayaan Rao ’24, 126 pounds, said the coach chose who wrestled based on a variety of factors of preparedness.

“Coach evaluated [the seeding] based off of attendance, like who shows up to the most practices, and just who seems like, based off how they have been performing in practice.” Rao said.

Cutter East ’24, 138 pounds, said his match presented him an opportunity to attempt techniques that he had not yet been able to use in competition.

“I was just trying out new moves on my opponent so that I can get better as an athlete and I felt that it was really beneficial to my wrestling career.” East said.

Wrestling Program Head Junior Amazan said that the team has been getting ready for this match since the start of training for the season.

“Wrestle offs are a common thing in wrestling,” Amazan said. “There are always wrestle offs going on behind the scenes during the year. We use wrestle offs to find out who the best wrestlers are at each weight class on our team.”

Amazan said this match reminded that the fanatics are a big part of the wrestling season.

“All of our practices and matches are in Hamilton Gym aka ‘The Brick House,'” Amazan said. “It’s a gritty environment where our fanatics can shine and do what they do best. My favorite part is that the fanatics are so close to the mats that it feels like they are wrestling themselves. We are one of the only schools able to create that type of environment. Our vision is to bring the east coast energy here.”