Although Randolph Wrestling faced tough adversity throughout the season, the team showed improvement and fought hard to conclude with a 5-16 record.
Even though their record wasn’t shiny, the wrestlers put forward extreme discipline and determination at every practice, focusing on their conditioning and mental fortitude in preparation for a highly demanding sport.
At the start of the season, the team gained many new freshmen, making the Rams more competitive. These new wrestlers included AJ Alessandra, Mason Peirce, Jude Guarnieri, Joseph Psaras, Erick Solano, Manny Samaniego and Noah Sternberg.
The Rams started practicing in November, working on their technique and physical fitness prior to their first match. Practices consisted of grueling conditioning and hours put into mastering complicated moves used to dominate the division on the mat.
“I learned a lot from our coaches leading up to the season,” said Psaras about the pre-season practices. “They drilled into us the importance of attention to detail, technique and conditioning.”
The wrestlers knew that, even with all the preparation, they faced tough competition in their division. Opponents included powerhouse teams such as Livingston, Mendham, Pompton Lakes, Kearny, Sparta, and Roxbury.
Unfortunately, the Randolph team began the season with losses to Livingston 48-30 and Kearny 49-30. However, that same day, the Rams beat their top rival, Mendham, 41-30 and Sommerville 41-35 in a shutout performance.
“As we kicked off this wrestling season, we faced the challenge of filling the shoes of many graduated starters,” sophomore Aiden Madayag-Williams said. “But with the addition of many of our talented freshman–AJ Alessandra, Manny Samaniego and Mason Peirce—we knew if all of us worked hard the team could really go far this year.”
Midseason, the Randolph wrestlers would suffer a string of losses to teams such as Morristown, Roxbury, Pompton Lakes and Montville. Yet the Rams persevered, and, in the second quad meet, broke through to win two of three matches, beating Parsippany and Pequannock and losing only to Montville in an intense battle. After three more defeats, the Rams beat Teaneck in a close match 37-34.
Going into the late season, the Teaneck match would be the Rams’ last victory as they suffered seven continuous defeats against competitive teams such as Sparta, Becton, Westfield and West Morris.
Despite the string of loses, individual wrestlers began preparing for district and regional tournaments, attempting to qualify for the state tournament.
The district lineup included star wrestlers such as freshmen Alessandra, Samaniego, Solano and Peirce; sophomores Will Mihalko, PJ Wolak, Rayan Taherpour and Anthony Helmstetter; juniors Vishruth Gunna, Jack Ellermeyer, Andrew Zeidman, and Tyler Davis; and seniors Yash Pullamvalappil and Aaron Sammy.
After a competitive tournament, the Region 3 qualifiers were Samaniego, Peirce, Mihalko and Zeidman. Despite qualifying regionally, however, they did not qualify for the state tournament.
“For my freshman year, I was ecstatic to have the opportunity and represent Randolph,” Pierce said. “Even though I did not make it to states along with the others, we still had a fantastic run.”
The Rams will be losing key seniors to graduation, such as Pullamvalappil and Sammy, who over the years helped shape and grow the program for the better.
“Despite not having a full four-year wrestling experience, with two of us starting sophomore year and one starting senior year, I think we still managed to have an exciting season, and we are eternally grateful for all the opportunitie,” Pullamvalappil said, reflecting on his high school wrestling career.
Although the Rams experienced a losing record, their drive and determination were evident in every match they wrestled during the 2024-2025 season.
