Nobles hosted the annual Graves Kelsey Wrestling Tournament on Sun., Feb. 10, for the first time since 2003. Teams from 13 ISL schools participated in the event and, despite scheduling and travel challenges due to a hard-hitting winter storm, the event was a huge success.
Wrestling started with the opening whistle at 9:30 a.m., and concluded at 6:15 p.m., when the final awards were handed out. Nobles finished in 5th place, just behind Milton Academy and only three points ahead of Brooks. Of the 12 Nobles wrestlers who competed on the day, 10 earned medals for finishing in the top six. Those medalists were:
- Grant Rosen, 6th place at 106 lbs.
- Andrew Conway, 5th place at 120 lbs.
- Brendan Yucel, 2nd place at 126 lbs. Brendan defeated a returning New England medalist in the semi-finals, before dropping a 9-8 decision in the finals.
- Andrew Fai, 6th place at 132 lbs.
- Raheem Barnett, 5th place at 138 lbs.
- Co-captain Dan Toubman, 2nd place at 160 lbs. Dan, a three-time New England medalist, pinned a returning New England placewinner in the semi-finals before losing 17-4 to a defending, nationally ranked Graves Kelsey champion.
- Grant Rheingold, 6th place at 170 lbs.
- John Keally, 2nd place at 182 lbs. By earning a takedown with 10 seconds left in the third period of his semi-finals match and winning 3-2, John was able to advance to the finals. Unfortunately, he was then upended by a Lawrence opponent who was later honored as Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.
- Jett Oristaglio, 3rd place at 195 lbs.
- Alex Beach, 5th place at 285 lbs.
Thanks go out to graduates Matt Wilkos, Matt Stansky and Gene Robinson, as well as to faculty member Mark Sheeran, who helped run the tournament smoothly and efficiently.