For years, Belmont High School’s wrestling program struggled to field a full 14-wrestler varsity lineup. Despite having two, sometimes three times as many athletes in the program, finding someone for each weight class proved a decade-plus long challenge — until now.
According to coach Craig Janjigian, the team is led by senior captains Ava Svistunov, Walter Pressey and William Babcock, who “changed the dynamic and outlook” of the program over their careers.
“Back when I was on the team, there wasn’t a trend of putting in work year-round,” said Janjigian, a 2013 Belmont graduate and four-year varsity wrestler, now in his fifth year at the helm. “These three definitely changed the tone.”
Wrestling at the club level helped the Marauder captains develop skills for the long haul.
The first girl to win an MIAA Division I championship (she’s now won two) Svistunov won her titles at the 107 and 114-pound classes, consecutively. She will wrestle this year at 114 pounds. She boasts a career 51-32 individual mark and also won Lowell’s annual girls’ holiday tournament.
Pressey, who finished fifth at sectionals last year, will wrestle at 138. Babcock, a reigning Middlesex League All-Star alongside Svistunov, will wrestle at 144. Another talented wrestler, junior Fergus Williams, will be at 157 and is 15-6 in his career
Svistunov isn’t the only girl in the starting lineup. Eva Cohen, a junior who wrestled two-thirds of the varsity matches last year, will wrestle at 120. She placed third at the girls’ state final last year.
The full program featured about 40 wrestlers over the past few years. This year it’s 26, but they’re in the right places. “Interesting how that worked out,” said Janjigian.
“It’s almost been a slow burn over these past four years, in the sense that we’d get [a couple] new wrestlers who were all-in,” Janjigian said. “It took a couple years for that trend to continue, and on top of that, these wrestlers continued their hard work and ended up becoming varsity athletes and filling in the varsity spots. Everything kind of fell into place this year.”
Janjigian, also a physical education teacher and assistant rugby coach, called his group “mature” and lauded their work ethic, especially at the start of the season.
Key matches include the home opener Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. against Middlesex League foe Lexington, senior night against Winchester Jan. 7, and the annual Brendan Grant Memorial Tournament on Jan. 10 and 11, which features 25 teams.
For Janjigian, the Winchester match sticks out because the Marauders have a realistic chance to compete with a program they haven’t toppled since 1981, when Janjigian’s father, Robert, was on the team.
“It would be really nice if we could beat them this year, and I think we have a good shot,” Janjigian said.
