The Walpole Wrestling Team performed better than expected last Friday and Saturday, February 11-12, at the Division II state tournament. The team had five qualify for the tournament February 4, at Metro Sectionals and three qualified for the All-State tournament beginning on February 24. The three qualifiers, freshman Nicholas Glover, junior Captain Caleb Cofsky, and senior Marvin Jean-Simon, placed 6th, 4th and 3rd respectively.

Freshman Nick Glover wrestled tough throughout the day. Losing in the first round, he moved to the consolation brackets and began to dominate. The freshman has been dealing with adversity all season but exploded in this tournament — finishing with a record of 4-3. Glover upset the Catholic memorial 106-pounder who took 2nd place in Metro Sectionals. He rode the Catholic Memorial wrestler out for the three periods and took him down at will during the bout, making it look all too easy. Glover himself was happily surprised at his achievement, so happy he jokingly said, “I can’t even feel my arms!” With that win Glover ensured his advancement to day-two of the tournament and successfully made it to the consolation semi-finals. Glover lost the bout but was not discouraged and took 6th place, which allotted him to continue his first high-school season into All-States, a place where most seniors never even get to.

Captain Caleb Cofsky proved himself in a fantastic effort at the tournament placing 4th overall in his weight class and wrestled a great tournament. No one expected Cofsky to wrestle as well as he did and certainly no one expected him to take 4th. Winning by injury default to Natick’s Mark Gutierrez in the consolation semi-finals, Cofsky continued into the consolation finals, losing to Nick Stern of Winchester. When asked how he felt going into the tournament Cofsky said, “I knew there were some pretty good kids at my weight, but before the tournament, coach told me that a realistic goal would be to place. That gave me a little more confidence before wrestling.” With his impressive fight throughout the tournament, Cofsky finished his tournament with a record of 6-1. Cofsky is technically growing day by day, and his physical fitness is incredible. He refuses to give up and rarely goes to his back. He credits this resiliency to his coaches — Head Coach Devin Pacelli and Assistant Coach Matthew Holubesko — who himself went to Walpole High and was a state champion in the 103-pound weight class. His determination and strong willed personality proved to Division II Massachusetts wrestling that hard work performs when talent does not.

Finally, Senior Marvin Jean-Simon battled his way through a tough bracket in a weight class where you never quite know what you’re going to get. Jean-Simon started out the tournament with a win and began his long wait for his next match which wouldn’t happen until later in the first evening of the tournament. A few hours later, Jean-Simon stepped onto the mat to wrestle his first real competition all season long, senior Brendan Battles Santos of Nauset Regional High School. Battles Santos, who is already signed with the University of Connecticut to play football, is an outstanding wrestler and is not your generic heavyweight. He is extremely athletic and has tremendous size. Jean-Simon prepared for weeks to wrestle this match, thanks to the brackets for the tournament being posted for a while before the start date. When asked how he felt about wrestling Battles Santos, Jean-Simon replied, “I wasn’t nervous. I knew it was going to be a tough match but I wasn’t worried about it. I just went out there and did my thing.” Battles Santos would win the match 17-10 and Jean-Simon went to the consolation brackets. Luckily, Jean-Simon would move on to the next day. He would continue to wrestle great and got the consolation finals wrestling for 3rd place. Jean-Simon would earn a hard fought win against the Belmont heavyweight, who he had lost to in Metro Secti0nal finals just a week earlier. Jean-Simon hopes to place at All-States and continue on to New England’s.

Despite an unfortunate season for the Wrestling Team in terms of their dual meet record in the Bay State Conference (Caused mostly by having to forfeit matches due to not having people who can wrestle in specific weight classes), three individuals have shown their toughness by continually surpassing post-season expectations and moving on to All-States this weekend.  If this team had more depth, they most certainly would have had a better team record; for now though, the accomplishments of Glover, Cofsky, and Jean-Simon bode well for the future of the Walpole Wrestling Program.