VIDEO: Clemenzi Hopes to Vault to Success This Weekend

It’s been a hard, hard season for the wrestling team. The Generals went 0-14 this season from lack of numbers, not lack of effort.

“We competed hard in each match,” wrestling coach David Pinette said. “The guys made a commitment to the team and to each other, and we came out strong all season, but it’s tough when you have the numbers we have.”

Pinette also serves as a substitute teacher in the Hamilton-Wenham school system.

“We’ve showed improvement since the beginning of the year, the guys work and train hard, and they support each other,” Pinette said.

The Generals put out anywhere from five to eight wrestlers in each match, .

Ben Clemenzi, a senior co-captain from Rowley, said he was frustrated .

“We have low numbers on the team, so it’s tough going against schools that are loaded with guys at each weight class,” Clemenzi said.  “On one hand we don’t have enough guys, but on the other hand, the relationships I have with the guys we do have on the team are phenomenal.”

“We support each other, we cheer for each other, and nobody wants to win as badly as we do.”

Clemenzi is in his fourth year of wrestling for the Generals, and he said all it took for him to get hooked on the sport was looking at a poster on the wall at the high school his freshman year.

“They showed a kid before and after wrestling,” Clemenzi said. “In eighth grade he looked small and unsure of himself, but when they showed him as a senior he looked big, muscular, and full of confidence.”

Clemenzi wrestles at 130 pounds and went 7-10 on the mat this past season. His mom Chris, who recently retired, taught elementary school in Hamilton for over thirty years.

“Yeah, mom comes to all my matches, she doesn’t like it when I get pinned or knocked around, but I know she enjoys watching me.”

On Saturday, Hamilton-Wenham can erase all the bad memories of a winless season with a good showing at the sectional tournament at Triton High School.

“We’ve had a lot of team losses, but individually, we’ve done well,” Clemenzi said. “We did great in the Pentucket tournament in December, and the Woburn tournament in January."

Clemenzi, wrestling at 130 pounds, finished in fourth place at the Woburn tournament.

Clemenzi lost his first match in Woburn, then battled back with three straight wins, taking fourth place overall. It was the first time in his career that Clemenzi has placed in a tournament of that caliber.

"Ben had a great day," Pinette said after the Woburn meet. "This is the first time he's ever placed in a tournament, and this was definitely a step up for us. Some of the top teams in the state were there."

Clemenzi also notched a fifth place at the Pentucket tournament earlier this year.

He will be by senior co-captain Brendan O’Donnell (215 pounds) and teammates Morgan Muschamp (152 pounds) and Matt Chigas who wrestles in the 170-pound category.

In Woburn, Muschamp won two matches at 152 pounds and O'Donnell won a match at 189 but he lost his final match, 1-0 - a win would have earned him fourth place.

"It was a big tournament for us, definitely a step up in competition compared to what we've been used to," Pinette said after Woburn. "But I'm a big believer that in order to get better, you've got to go against the best."

Clemenzi said said it has been a tough year for the team.

“Our co-captain Kendrick Poulin was hurt and couldn’t wrestle, and I’ve been dealing with MRSA all season, it’s really annoying,” he said.

MRSA, is short for methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, which is a bacterial skin infection that is common among wrestlers due to their close proximity to each other, sweat and physical contact during the matches.

In addition to wrestling, Clemenzi does the pole vault for the track team during the spring. His best jump was ten feet during a meet last season.

“Wrestling is more of a controlled explosion than pole vaulting,” Clemenzi said. “In wrestling you have to hit the mat and explode, and keep it going for five to six minutes, in pole vaulting it’s just a few seconds of really intense concentration and effort.”

Ben’s interests outside of athletics include art and cooking, and when he isn’t trying to make weight before a match, he loves to pig out on Chinese food and anything spicy.

“Art and cooking give me a way to express myself, I can work on art projects that help me creatively, and I get a respect for food when I cook, since I’m always aware of what I eat since I’m constantly thinking about how much I weigh.”

And what would be on the menu if a college recruiter came to the Clemenzi house to talk about college?

“Well, I’d probably whip up some classic Italian,” Clemenzi said. “I like cooking, it’s just something fun that I enjoy.”

Ben hopes to attend UMass-Amherst after he leaves high school.

“I’m also checking out other state schools as well, I would love to keep wrestling next year,” Clemenzi said.

Clemenzi credits both his wrestling coaches, first year head coach David Pinette and assistant coach Mark Boden, for helping to shape him as an athlete and a person.

“I’ve made so many friends in so many towns from wrestling,” Clemenzi said. “The coaches have really helped me with my wrestling skills and my life skills.”

One more chance to make a statement on the mat for Clemenzi and his Generals teammates, Muschamp, Chigas and O’Donnell, on Saturday at Triton High School in the sectional tournament.

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