FOXBOROUGH — The most decorated Watertown High School wrestler added to her list of accomplishments by repeating as champion at the MIAA Div. 3 State Wrestling Championship on Saturday.
Senior Tessa Master dominated her competition, pinning both opponents in the first period. Two Raider teammates also placed at the meet, with senior Brady Gleason taking third and junior Jimmy Shrestha finishing seventh.
Last year, Master became the first Watertown wrestler to win at States. Entering Saturday’s meet felt different.
“I feel like it’s more pressure to defend than just entering the tournament, So I was pretty nervous coming in,” she said.
Master said she trained hard in the week leading up to States, and felt prepared. The first match she pinned her opponent, in less that 30 seconds. Master said she had a few butterflies coming in.
“The first match is obviously always the scariest, but once I got through that I was more confident in myself with the finals,” Master said.
In the girls 145 pound final she pinned Hayden Delrosario Rodrigues of Ludlow in less than a minute.
Watertown Head Coach Kevin Russo noted that Master’s meet didn’t last a long time, but she has goals to go much further this season.
“Tessa was on the mat for a total of a minute, six seconds today, and she won again — she was state champ last year,” Russo said. “Now we go on to the All-States where she was an All-State champ last year. That’s our next, next task, but you know, she took third New England (last year) and did not like losing to the champion. So we have our we have our mindset on her being victorious for the rest of the way.”
Senior Brady Gleason became the third Raider to place in the top three at States. On Friday, he dropped a match to the top-seeded wrestler in Massachusetts in the 175-pound class, but he wrestled his way to the third-place match where he met a familiar opponent, Pentucket’s Mason Skinner.
“The kid beat me in the Sectionals last week. So it got me fired up, and I wanted to come back and really take it to him,” Gleason said.
The first period finished scoreless, and to begin the second Gleason chose to go on the bottom with hopes of getting a reversal and scoring points.
“I got my escape, and I kind of fired me up,” Gleason said. “I got it pretty quickly too, so that helped my confidence. And from there worked to where I got the pin.”
His road to the third place match was not an easy one.
“I had to wrestle our Sectional champ in the match before (the third place match). I ended up pinning him as well,” Gleason said.
Last year Gleason went to All-States as a spectator.
“I finally get to go there and wrestle,” he said.
Junior Jimmy Shrestha also made the podium at States, Russo said.
“Jimmy took seventh at 126 (pounds),” Russo said. “He wrestled well, third in the Section, seventh in the State. So he’ll go to the All-States as an alternate.”
Russo added that Master is the first Watertown wrestler to be a two-time State Champ, and was also named Outstanding Wrestler for the tournament.
“It is just one more example of the respect she has gained across the state as a fierce competitor,” Russo said. “It is the second year in a row that she has not given up a point in the state tournament.”
During her high school wrestling career, girls’ wrestling has been growing.
“When I started wrestling, there were five girls in the entire state in my weight class,” she said. “Now that we can have multiple divisional State Tournaments and have full brackets for that. I think it’s, amazing. I love to see how the sport has grown.”
During the regular season, Master competes along side the boys on the Raiders wrestling squad. Facing girls is a bit different, she said.
“When I wrestle girls in comparison to the boys, it’s a lot easier for me, because I’m used to wrestling a boy who’s stronger than me or faster than me, and then when I wrestle the girls that I’m stronger compared to them, so it’s easier,” she said.
Master has improved through her WHS career. In her freshman year, Master got fourth at All-States out of five competitors. The next year she got fourth and she said she trained hard during the summer and as a junior she won States (the first year they were held for girls), won All-States and got third at New Englands.
She plans to keep wrestling wherever she goes to college.
“The interesting thing about women’s wrestling in college is Div. I through III all compete against each other. So, the only difference is the level of work that you’re doing,” Master said. “So, I’m in between a D3 school in Pennsylvania and a D1 school in Connecticut.”