By Jake Epstein and Pete Wise
Sports Contributors
After a successful season, senior captains Adam Josephson and Zachary Nislick have qualified for the All-State Championship meet just in time to cap off their South wrestling career.
“I would say that the team as a whole worked extremely hard this season,” Adam Josephson said. “This was definitely the hardest working wrestling team I have been on in my four years at South.”
Both captains wanted to make it to this point from the beginning of the season, and they knew that the only way to do so was to put in tremendous amounts of hard work and focus.
“Going through the tournaments with my fellow captain Adam Josephson is also something we are very proud of in terms of our individual accomplishments and setting the example for our team as leaders,” Nislick said.
Nislick and Josephson, both in their fourth season of the sport, placed sixth at the MIAA Division I State Tournament last weekend, qualifying for the All-State Championship this weekend.
Wrestling differs from many other sports at South, as it is very individualized and focuses more on each wrestler and his weight class, rather than the team’s performance as a whole.
Wrestling is one of the few sports that has an All-State meet, which is where the top finishers from the divisional meets battle against each other to move on to the next round. Whereas most South sports have a bracket-style tournament for each division, each of the five divisions in Massachusetts sends a fixed number of people to the All-State meet.
“Myself and Zach Nislick both took second at sectionals,” Josephson said. “Liam took third and Michael Lee fifth, then me and Zach went to States and we both placed sixth. Now we both go to All-States this weekend.”
As seniors, Nislick and Josephson have one last meet to make their mark on the state of Massachusetts, not to mention their own fruitful careers.
“My goal at the beginning of the year was to make All-States because I didn’t do well at States last year,” Nislick said. “Now that I’ve qualified, I feel I have accomplished everything I wanted to over my four years as a wrestler.”
Nislick, who is also a committed member of the boy’s soccer team, takes his role as a senior on the team to heart.
“It has meant a great deal to me to have my accomplishments in the postseason reflect on how far I have come from freshman year,” Nislick said.
The upcoming All-State meet is more than just a meet for these hard working captains. It is one of their last chances ever to show everything they’ve worked for this season, not to mention the last four years.
For Adam, wrestling is not something he will continue to pursue after graduating.
“I am hoping to do the best I possibly can at All-States. I am just going to give it all I got because I got nothing to lose,” Josephson said when asked about reflecting on his last meet.
The stakes are high for these two accomplished athletes going into the meet this weekend. Facing some of the toughest competition in Massachusetts, it is up to Nislick and Josephson to leave their mark on the state, and to end their South wrestling careers with the utmost pride and respect.
