At the 2020 wrestling UCBAC tournament on February 21-22, the entire Hawks wrestling team participated in attempt to place to go to the regional competition. After the regional competition, three of the NH wrestlers went to States with two placing in the top 10.

Six NH wrestlers placed high enough at UCBACS to make it to the regional competition, and three of them subsequently made it to States. Seniors Garrett Arnett and Zach Jackson placed fifth, junior Derek Caiazzo placed third, freshman Cruz Cespedes, and seniors Josh Mitchell and Teddy Stinson all placed first.

Sophomore Austin Arist wrestled at UCBACS in the 170-pound weight class.  Previously a UCBACS, Arist went zero to two, being pinned in both matches, where this year, he went two to two, allowing him to wrestle in day two of the competition, fighting for a spot at regionals. Arist believes he was able to gain valuable experience and ended up bringing home seventh place.

Since his freshman year, Mitchell has placed first every year including this year. Being out on injury the whole wrestling season, and having his first match back being at UCBACS, Mitchell stated, “being back on the mats after being out for about seven months, was just an overall amazing feeling.”

Caiazzo stated the way he prepares for a tough match is through tunnel vision, and not thinking about how hard the match may be but remembering to have fun and trying to wrestle the best that he could at that moment. According to Arist, “I usually listen to music and think about what I could do in order to win the upcoming matches.”

On March 7-8, Arnett, Stinson, and Cespedes participated in the State wrestling tournament at Showplace Arena near Washington DC. Arnett wrestled in the 195-weight class but didn’t place, Cespedes wrestled in the 106-weight class and placed sixth, while Stinson wrestled in the 182-weight class and placed third.

In previous years, Arnett never made it to state competition and was “ecstatic to finally make it to place high enough in regionals to go to States.” However, Stinson participated last season wrestling for CMW and placing fourth. Wrestling in his freshman year, Cespedes stated, “I can see myself placing at States in the future because I am super committed to doing my best, and I never hold anything back when I’m in a match, especially when I know that I’m fighting for a big title, like becoming State champion.”

Even though Stinson didn’t take the title of State champion he said, “I only fell short by one point this year;  I did my best, but it was all just the way everything ended up working out. However, I believe my placement was determined by something bigger than me and I could only place as well as I wrestled compared to my competition.”

Arnett stated, “I really enjoyed going to States, and I was very pleased with my own success this year, especially because it was my senior year. Also, I am super proud of my two teammates that went with me and ended up placing. ”