After years of obscurity, the Academy Varsity Wrestling team is finally rising to success. The first tournament of the ’09-’10 season took place this past Saturday at Mohonasen in Schenectady. Wrestlers from 11 schools in the Albany area competed in 15 weight classes, including 13 wrestlers from Academy.

Just two years ago, the Academy team consisted of 7 members, and struggled to win a single match. Tournaments were quick and disappointing – the team typically left after only a few hours, all the boys having already lost two matches and thus being eliminated from the competition. Since then, the team has nearly tripled in size, and tournaments have become an all-day affair.

On Saturday, senior captain George Featherstonhaugh and 8th grader Cameron Milliken came in fourth place, junior Stuart Curtis came in third, senior Kyle DiCaprio and sophomore Mory Gueye both came in second, and junior Nick DiCaprio (above) was the champion of 119lb weight class. Of the 11 schools that participated, Academy came in fourth. The exhausting 14-hour day had little effect on Coach Buran, however, who expressed his hopes for the coming months, “I am very excited about this season.  We are looking to improve on last year’s mark while having a much more challenging schedule.  The boys have been working hard and they had their best results at Mohonasen in recent memory!”

Last year was revolutionary for the wrestling program: not only did the team take home a first place trophy at the Ichabod Crane tournament, but they also ended the season 10-9, and Featherstonhaugh, with a record of 30-12, came in fourth place in the Class D 130-lb weight class. The team’s dramatic improvement has been supplemented by the involvement of the DiCaprio brothers, who came to Academy this year from Schenectady. Considering everything that this team has accomplished in the past few years, and the enormous potential that still remains, they may soon need a bigger trophy case.

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