Despite going into triple overtime, New Trier Wrestling pulled through against Maine South on Friday, Dec. 2 with a 39-33 win.

Toward the end of the meet, varsity wrestler Russell Sanchez was put into overtime and hung on to win the deciding match 7-3.

“My opponent was slightly stronger than I was, so I had to tire him out in order to win,” said Sanchez.

Varsity Wrestling Coach Marc Tadelman, in his eighth year of coaching wrestling, was pleased with the results. He said, “Several of our wrestlers went undefeated this weekend. They wrestled hard and came out of their matches with some pins and wins.

“This was our 16th conference win in a row, so we definitely want to keep that winning streak going. Our juniors have never lost a dual meet in the conference, so it’s nice to challenge them to keep the streak going.”

Austin Miranda, a senior wrestler who is new to the varsity team, was one of wrestlers who got a pin, which is equivalent to 6 points. “I pinned [Maine South’s wrestler] in the first period, which felt great considering this is my first year on varsity,” said Miranda. “I went out there with high intensity and I wouldn’t have changed anything about how it went.”

Miranda and Sanchez were two among the many wrestlers who remained undefeated over the weekend.

Tadelman also mentioned, “Our team is a younger team than we normally are since we’ve got some underclassmen on varsity, so there’s a bit of an adjustment period for them to get used to varsity wrestling.”

Although the Trevians managed to defeat Maine South, the meet didn’t start out as promising. They initially started off with a 24 point deficit, so they had to regain the lead in order to win.

One of the underclassmen on the team is freshman Matt McKenna, who had his first varsity win of the season and pinned his opponent, breaking Maine South’s lead.

Several of McKenna’s teammates said he shifted the momentum of the match.

Jack Tangen, who didn’t wrestle on Friday because Maine South forfeited the match in his weight class, said, “What made [McKenna’s] match memorable was that he was losing the whole match and was really close to being pinned until he reversed his opponent and pinned him down.”

Coach Tadelman said that some of the key wrestlers were out over the weekend, so some guys had to fill in greater roles on the team.

“With a few guys out of the matches, I was definitely a little bit more negative going into the meet because we were missing some key guys, so we tried to challenge the team to step up and fill the positions,” he said.

Even though he won his match, Sanchez still felt there were some areas that needed improvement.

“There were some positions in my match that I practiced during the week, but I was unable to execute them, so that’s something I hope to work on,” he said.

According to Tadelman, though the team will be making minor adjustments to their wrestling, the main focus still remains on mental toughness and working hard.

Tangen said the team needed to follow the advice of their coaches: “The lifting coaches always talk to us about starting fast, staying focused and finishing strong. That’s what we need to start doing.”

Ultimately, Tadelman said one of the main goals of the team, besides winning, is to grow and improve as wrestlers. “Guys have already improved a lot since the previous dual meet two weeks ago, so it’s nice to see them improve and continue wrestling hard. We’re hoping to see them continue to grow, and I think we’re gonna see a different team out there in the future.”