From the very first practice, the wrestling team made it their goal to capture the school’s first wrestling Team State Championship. The team had plenty of motivation this season, losing last year in the state finals by one point. They started the season with a tougher tournament schedule than in the past, wrestling in The Beast of the East (considered the toughest tournament in the country), and The United States Marine Corps Wrestling Tournament in Virginia. The highlight of the season was exhibited at the Delaware State Dual Meet Wrestling Championships held February 15th, at Smyrna High School. In the quarter-finals, Caravel dealt St. Georges Technical High School a 39-34 loss with huge wins coming from 8th grader Clint Ferrazzo, and Jeremy Casey. In the semi-finals the team faced Polytech High School, who defeated Caravel during the regular season. When it mattered the most, every wrestler gave 100% with a major win coming from Daniel Press, who avenged his loss during the regular season in leading the team to a 39-35 victory. As the team prepared for the state finals against Indian River, you could see it in their eyes that they were not going to leave the gym without the state championship trophy in hand. The crowd was electric during the match with huge pins coming from Austin Walker, Daniel Press, Clint Ferrazzo, Mark Ardecki, Nick Gattinella, and Alex Zwier. David Summerfield also had a great win against an opponent at a heavier weight class. The last pin of the night came from senior three sport athlete, Alex Zwier, bringing the final score to 44-34.

This year Caravel wrestlers also had great individual seasons. The team had four wrestlers make it to the Conference finals with nine wrestlers qualifying for the state tournament. The conference finalists were Nick Gattinella, and Alex Zwier, with David Summerfield, Ryan Wolfe and Clint Ferrazzo claiming Independence Conference titles. Clint Ferrazzo was selected by the coaches as the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler. The team also had exceptional performances from Daniel Press (3rd), Mark Ardecki (3rd), Jeremy Casey (3rd), David Malliey (4th), and Matt Young (5th). As for individual states, Caravel had six wrestlers place: Mark Ardecki (2nd), Ryan Wolfe (2nd), David Summerfield (3rd), Alex Zwier (3rd), Clint Ferrazzo (4th), and Nick Gattinella (5th). On a side note, every wrestler showed improvement since last year’s state tournament by placing higher. The team would also like to thank the managers, Gina Cahill and Dana Ford for all their hard work.

This year’s team had two seniors, Mark Ardecki and Alex Zwier whose entertaining personalities and great work ethic will be sorely missed; however, with the team’s core of returning starters, as well as a tough group of rising eighth graders coming up from the strong middle school program, the future of Caravel Academy’s Wrestling team is looking outstanding!!!

-Coach Welch