The Needham High wrestling team has been busy as their season winds down. On Wednesday, the team played host to perennial rival Wellesley for their final home match of the year and senior night at NHS. The Rockets jumped out to an early lead with wins from David Kurker, Panagiotis Zymaris, Travis Szetela and Lucas Goldman for a score of 17-0. After losing seven matches in a row, it wasn’t until the lineup moved back to the lower weight classes that the team closed the gap with a huge pin from freshman Adam Kates at 106 pounds to make it 23-30 Wellesley leading. A forfeit win by Brady Liss and game changing pin from sophomore Andy Kaplan at 120 moved the Rockets ahead of the Raiders 35-30. Senior captain Dan Goldstein sealed the victory with an 11-8 win for a final score 38-30.
With little time to rest on their laurels, the team traveled to Newton South on Valentine’s day for the Division 1 Central Sectionals tournament. Nine out of 13 wrestlers medalled on the day to help the team finish in fifth place overall. After a long and grueling day, junior Lucas Goldman advanced to the finals against Framingham and finished in second place. Senior Travis Szetela and sophomore Brady Liss placed third in their respective weight classes and Goldstein finished fourth. They will all advance to D1 States next Friday in Weymouth. The Rockets will also send juniors Ethan Okunas and Griff Hood and sophomore Dan Aksman as alternates as they finished in fifth place.
