The Westwood Cardinals’ Wrestling Team overall has had a very successful Winter season, earning many victories over their competitors, with many of its own wrestlers having set new personal records. Westwood’s own senior, Aidan Dugan, made it to the finals with a score of 4-1 against Genti Idrizi from Bergen Catholic. Dugan finished the season with a flawless 100 wins.
The River Dell match was a significant part of the season because of the close-cutting win. It got down to the last match and then the team won. The final score was Westwood with 31 points and River Dell with 28. This match was one of our best since another one of the wrestlers, Ryan Sklavounos, a junior on the team, had a game-making pin. The energy in the gymnasium was amazing after the team won.
The team has been putting lots of work in during the off-seasons this year. Rather than only having them focus on their skills on the mat, their Coach, Mr. Ortiz, prioritized strength and conditioning during the off season. Lifting has always been a tried and true way to build and maintain muscle and this is a core tenet of wrestling. This approach to training has proved to be effective in making sure that the wrestlers can be stronger and more skilled than their opponents.
Dugan says, “I saw a lot of improvements on my own end, I did put in a lot of work. I’ve been wrestling like 3 times a week for 365 days and it did pay off. It was pretty brutal.”
The first County Champion in the women’s division went to Mia Spadavecchia, a sophomore on the wrestling team who won the majority of her matches all season.
Westwood made it to the Quarter-Finals and beat Jefferson scoring 43-31. They advanced to the Semi-Finals after going against High Point with a score of 6-75. The team made it very far along in the championship and won for their division.
Just like any sport, wrestling is a big commitment and all the members of the team should be proud of all the work they’ve accomplished. Lots of hard work and dedication was put into all of the games this season.