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The 2024-25 Winchester High School wrestling team’s season is well underway, but as a refresher last year’s squad went 10-13 overall during the regular season, 4-1 in the Middlesex League.
In the postseason, the team had two Division 1 North sectional winners: Henry Wallace (106-pound weight class) and Ilyas Malik (157) — both sophomores — and an All-State qualifier: Kai Napadow Baquero (113), who placed sixth at the Division 1 state divisional meet to make the state championship meet list. He was also a sophomore.
Coach Ryan Errico has a team comprised of 40 eager wrestlers this year.
“The practices (have been) high pace, and the kids are enthusiastic about working hard,” said Errico.
To date, the team’s regular season record is 7-6. The Red & Black started the season off right by winning the annual Wilmington Sons of Italy Tournament last month. In their most recent meet on Jan. 15, the Winchester boys defeated Lexington, 38-34.
Junior Eddie Donlon is a captain of this year’s team, along with his aforementioned classmates Napadow Baquero and Malik.
Errico has nothing but good things to say about all three captains.
“He has an assertive nature, especially in big matches,” he says, of Donlon. “He isn’t afraid while wrestling, and often gives the team good momentum.”
The coach’s thoughts on Napadow Baquero also mentioned his successes: “He went the furthest in the postseason last year, and since then he has dedicated himself in the offseason [to be even better]. [He] has excellent techniques, and just loves competing year-round.”
Malik can be easily summed up with two admirable attributes, according to the coach.
He says of Malik: “He’s our vocal leader and is very athletic.”
All of the captains to date have been growing into their roles. Donlon has beaten two state-ranked opponents in the Top 10 in one tournament in early January.
Napadow Baquero placed in the Lowell Holiday Tournament, the hardest in-season tournament throughout New England, said Errico, while Malik has stepped up, leading his younger teammates by example to go along with giving high level opponents very competitive matches.
When legendary wrestling coach Larry Tremblay stepped down after the 2018 season, the program stumbled upon difficult times, according to Errico.
“Between COVID and the high turnover of coaches, the culture of the team was damaged, so our weaknesses have been related to having to rely on the younger members of the team to step up and learn a lot of lessons out of the gate,” said Errico. “But the strength of this team is that the kids want to be there and want to get better, which is a fundamental requirement for coaches to be able to do their jobs effectively.”
Anthony Fraumeni, the winningest WHS wrestler ever and one of Errico’s assistants, is in charge of higher-level techniques. And Vitaly Napadow, Kai’s dad, is helping out the program this year with communications, fundraising and data entry work that’s necessary to make everything work behind the scenes, so that team can enjoy success on the mat.
Among the matches the team has had to date was the memorable New Year’s Eve spectacular at Town Hall against non-league Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical out of Fitchburg.
“It was a fun idea,” said Errico. “There were a lot of things that we learned from that match, and I think it will be more fun next year. It was definitely a step in the right direction for the program. I’m trying to gain more interest in wrestling around town, and an event like this one showed people how exciting the matches can be.”
Montachusett Regional beat the Red & Black in a close match, 40-36. The Winchester boys were 2-3 after this match, while the Bulldogs jumped over the .500 mark at 3-2.
Winchester already has three wrestlers ranked in the Top 20 throughout the state — Henry Wallace (106), Napadow Baquero (113) and Donlon (132) — and two of those wrestlers, Napadow Baquero and Donlon, are in the Top 20 throughout New England.
There are still six regular season matches left on the schedule, starting with the Jan. 22 home encounter against Reading, beginning at 6 p.m.
The postseason begins on Feb. 15 with the Division 1 North Sectionals, followed by the state divisional meet on Feb. 21, the All-States on Feb. 28 and the All-New England Meet on March 8.
