The Marblehead-Swampscott wrestling team is two days into the season and primed for a strong few months. Under the direction of head coach Michael Stamison, he’s ready to lead the squad. Stamison begins year No. 10 in charge, but has been with the program for 16 years.
This year, the Black and Blue are returning a fair amount of experience and some key contributors from last season’s team. They graduated just three seniors.
“The returners are not only all starters, but they have been great with the first-year kids, acting as assistant coaches for the basic maneuvers we are learning in this young season. It also means we will remain a strong dual-meet team, with a bunch of lettermen back in action,” Stamison said. “We certainly miss Angelo (Knight), Ben (O’Brien), and Will (Woodward), but all have remained fairly local and I can’t wait to see them back in our room over the holiday break.”
Unfortunately for the team, it will be without Brady Haskell, who has transferred to another school. Despite the loss of Haskell, Marblehead-Swampscott still brings talented wrestlers like Mason Hinshaw and Liam O’Brien to the table.
“Mason (third in D2 states) and Liam (fourth), of course, lead the way in terms of their postseason accomplishments from last season,” Stamison said. “Both are primed for state-title runs. Anything short of a D2 state championship final match would be disappointing. We look for both to grab us six points in every dual-meet with wins via pinfall, and place high or win the individual tournaments we are scheduled for this season.”
In addition to Hinshaw and O’Brien, Clive Connolly and Colin Hart are the other two captains. Stamison also notes Alejandro Haven and Justin Gonzalez are ready to make impacts this year.
“Clive and Colin are both poised for terrific seasons. Both are in great shape and ready to build on their solid careers. Also ready to roll are Alejandro Haven (Swampscott senior) and Justin Gonzalez (Marblehead senior). Alejandro worked out hard all offseason with my good friend and three-time Canadian national champion Cleo Ncube, and I can see he is simply a different wrestler,” Stamison said. “Gonzo not only comes off a sectional fourth-place finish and state-tournament berth from last season, but, as a captain of the Magicians’ football team, he has a winning pedigree and attitude, and should be a force up at heavyweight this season.”
With a sport as physical as wrestling, Stamison knows health is a top factor.
“Health is the No. 1 priority. Wrestling is a grind of a season with hard practices mostly every day during cold-and-flu season. A student-athlete has to be tough to make it through. That said, the depth we have certainly helps,” Stamison said. “We have a terrific trainer at Marblehead in Maddie Rowe, and she goes above and beyond to keep these kids on the mat. We also will regularly have yoga sessions with a friend of the program and licensed yoga teacher Taylor Orton to minimize the aches and pains and strengthen our ligaments and core, and also our minds.”
And if you ask Stamison, he has a few goals in mind.
“We want to finish in the top four of every team tournament, including the D2 North sectionals. We want to have a winning dual-meet record. We want to win the NEC (Northeastern Conference) dual-meet championship, and we are aiming to win the CAL/NEC league tournament. It’s all attainable, if we are wrestling hard and keeping healthy,” he said.
The team begins with a scrimmage on Saturday, but its first official match comes Dec. 14 in the Anthony Lisitano Memorial Tournament beginning at 9 a.m. in Wakefield.
