Arlington athletic director John Bowler stated all of his coaches are thrilled to be getting new amenities apart from wrestling coach Kevin Cummings.
Then once more, The Pit is greater than only a facility to Cummings.
With the college in the course of an enormous reconstruction, The Pit is slated to be taken down after the top of the common season. For Cummings, who began this system in 1996 and carried out his practices and meet within the cozy confines of The Pit, he dreads the ultimate time he enters the sacred room.
“This place is as old-school as it gets,” Cummings stated. “This room is the place I began this system with seven youngsters and three meets and now now we have 43 youngsters within the wrestling room. I do know everybody loves wrestling right here due to the ambiance – this yr lots of the Middlesex League groups who had been purported to host us requested if they may change the meet with the intention to get one final likelihood to wrestle a match right here.
“I remember when we were back in the GBL and we had meets here with Cambridge, it was the Battle for Mass. Ave. Then we came into the Middlesex League, we had some great meets here with Larry (Tremblay) and his Winchester teams.”
The Herald reached out to previous and current wrestlers and coaches who had been very happy to share their sentiments of what The Pit meant to them. St. Sebastian’s wrestling coach Matt Willey competed at Arlington and by no means misses a possibility to return each likelihood he will get.
“It was such a unique place to wrestle, there’s nothing like it.” Willey stated. “I remember the mat light. They would shut all the lights off and the mat light would be on, it was like wrestling in a dungeon.”
“Wrestling here really prepares us for matches in tough places. We wrestled Newton South the other night and they had a great crowd and it was loud. We were able to win 45-32 and one of the big reasons was that we were used to wrestling in those type of places because of the Pit.”
Like many wrestlers who’ve turn out to be a part of the Arlington program, Andrew Ellis had Cummings as a bodily training trainer on the Ottoson Middle School, the place he had been persuaded to provide the game a shot. Ellis grew to become so good on the sport that he ultimately grew to become the college’s first All-State champion in 2015.
“The Pit is such a perfect environment for wrestling,” Ellis stated. “I enjoyed every day of practice here, the intensity in The Pit was great. I’ve talked to a lot of people who wrestled here and it’s going to be heartbreaking when they tear it down.”
Assistant coach Sam Kafrissen has been concerned with the game for greater than 4 a long time, therefore he qualifies as an knowledgeable on wrestling venues. There little suspense as to the place he charges The Pit.
“First of all, this is great place to practice,” Kafrissen stated. “People comes to the matches because of The Pit, it’s a great place to watch a match. The setup makes the wrestlers feel like gladiators with the spectators looking down to see them.”
Current wrestlers Arcadio Cerezo Lizarribar, Austin Cronin and Jake Waldman have their very own particular recollections of The Pit. Cerezo Lizarribar says it’s the proper place to wind down if he’s had a troublesome day, whereas Cronin loves the ambiance and the general vibe surrounding The Pit.
“There’s just nothing like this,” Waldman stated. “It’s not a state-of-the-art place, but it is old school. There’s no better place than The Pit.”
Long time coming
The rapid purpose for the Concord-Carlisle wrestling doesn’t change from yr to yr: win the Dual County League title.
For the primary time since 2005, the Patriots managed to tug it off.
Concord-Carlisle defeated Westford Academy 45-34 to seal the deal. For second-year coach Craig Carpenter, it was a very long time coming, although he sensed the drought was about to finish.
“We’ve been used to finishing behind Wayland, they’ve been a big obstacle for us,” Carpenter stated. “When we finished ahead of Wayland at the Wayland Tournament, we started to feel optimistic. Then to beat them in a dual meet, it was a great feeling for many of us.”
Carpenter is not any stranger to success on the mat. He wrestled for Bill Hahn and John Mazza at Catholic Memorial, the place he received the New England title at 135 kilos in 2007 and left as the college’s all-time chief in wins on the time with 173.
He went on to compete at Harvard and joined the Concord-Carlisle employees six years in the past as an assistant. When Eric Rivera stepped down, Carpenter slid into the top coach’s place.
“(Rivera) did a great job in his time here,” Carpenter stated. “The youth program has been pretty solid and we are starting to see the results now. A lot of the kids who came from the program are with us and we’ve received excellent support from the parents and the administration.”
The core group is keyed by senior captains Conor Murphy (160 kilos), Bud West (152) and Joe Lavery (170), who received the Wayland Tournament in his weight class. A fourth senior, Jonathan Charles, has been a revelation as he’s gone 18-5 at 195 kilos in his first yr as a wrestler. Carpenter spoke extremely of the youth program, pointing to Eddie Myles (145), Kian Amouzgar (182) and Miles Mattaliano (132).
Source: www.bostonherald.com