At the ends of the mat, teammates cheered and jumped in excitement, as Haven’s wrestler turned the match around, dominating and pinning down his opponent in the last few seconds of the final period.  

At the only home dual meet of the regular season, Haven’s boys’ wrestling team beat the Chichester wrestling team 50-22. The win was largely due to strong performances from nearly all the wrestlers, who gave it their all.  

“We’ve been preaching all season, ‘do what you can control, and we can control our effort that we put forth,’” wrestling Head Coach Tony Gilliano said. “I asked all the kids to come out tonight and make sure they’re giving 100% effort, whether it be win, lose, or draw.” 

Tough matches and comeback wins by senior Rusty Belville and sophomore Aromal Rajesh allowed the team to pull ahead of Chichester in points. 

“I just had that mentality that I can always win throughout the entirety of the match, and it’s never over,” Rajesh said. “I was pretty happy at the end, it was really awesome.”

Team support, along with the significance of senior night, further motivated them to turn the match around.

“People that came to see me, I just can’t let them down. I go to win by any means necessary,” Belville said. “I just loved to have support from my teammates and it was great because I give it back.” 

The dual meet also had its Haven Youth Night and celebrated six seniors: Rusty Belville, Aleksei Gustafson, Khalid Khedr (not pictured), Elias Kuhn, Simon LaFountain, and Alex Thornton. 

“My dad and my mom were here. It was a good way to end my four years of wrestling,” Kuhn said. 

The varsity wrestling team will next compete in a tournament at home on February 8.