'Show up, be tough:' Winnisquam wrestling places 2nd in state championship

TILTON — For the first time in its 49-year history, the Winnisquam Regional High School wrestling team won second place in Saturday's state championship.

“If you go out into the gym, there are no championship or runner up years on the banner. The banner is empty,” said coach Tom Osmer as his wrestlers practiced in a makeshift wrestling gym assembled on the school’s assembly stage. “They’ve never won a team trophy as defined by a top two finish. This is the highest finish in school history.”

Gaining this victory was far from easy. 

“Everyone’s struggling with the same thing we’re struggling with, COVID and the hangover effect of lockdowns. Everyone’s rosters are kind of light this year,” Osmer said, “so these are the guys that just persevered and pushed through.”

“Last year, COVID affected us more. Us middle schoolers, we had no matches, but we had practice every day. We had to wear masks,” said freshman Aemon Gauthier. “This year, for the most part, has been completely normal. The only time COVID affected us was tournaments being canceled.” 

“Coming back after COVID wasn’t easy,” senior Brandon Parry said, “We lost most of our team and seniors last year, and having the team grow again and come back this strong feels really good.”

Thanks to their determination, the Winnisquam team finally earned the school’s first wrestling banner. The team's top five wrestlers will also attend this weekend's Meet of Champions in Londonderry. 

Gauthier placed first in the 113-pound division. “I was one seed and I had a three-man bracket,” Gauthier explained, “so those two kids below me, they wrestled to face me, so I only had to wrestle one match to win.”

Senior Brandon Parry came out of the championship as a finalist in the 220-pound bracket. 

“I’m feeling great. I’ve never done this well personally,” Parry said. “The team overall hasn’t done this well before.”

As for this year’s crop of wrestlers, Osmer said there is no special sauce or breakthrough training method to thank for Winnisquam’s long-awaited success. Instead, he cited pure determination and toughness. 

“I’ve had more talented teams, I think I’ve done a better job coaching before, but we peaked on the right day because some of these guys wrestled out of their minds, like career best performances, not just the best of the season,” Osmer said. “We focus on things we can control. The first thing on that list is being tough, and that that’s always been a Winnisquam wrestling tradition, is to put tough guys out on the mat. Show up, be tough and try to win.”