The Randolph Rams Wrestling team went 1-3 in a quad meet held at home on Saturday, Jan. 17, defeating Clifton while falling to Montville and West Morris Central.

“We just need to keep practicing and working every day and the results will show,” freshman Mason Marks said. 

Randolph started off the day strong against Montville, with freshman Ryan DeAngelo winning his 106-pound match by major decision. Following that was another win by junior captain Will Mihalkovia pin, just 1:16 into the 120-pound match.  

Randolph then suffered a string of losses from the 126- through 165-pound weight classes. Sophomore captain Emmanuel Samaniego turned it around, winning the 175-pound match by decision. That was followed by 190-pound senior captain Andrew Zeidman’s pin victory 1:50 into the match. Despite the late surge, Randolph fell to Montville 60-19.   

Against West Morris Central, Marks scored for the team, winning his 113-pound match via pin just 23 seconds in. Mihalko quickly followed the pattern, securing a pin 33 seconds into his second match. 

Unfortunately, the Rams lost this momentum in the remainder of their matches, falling to West Morris Central to bring the team score to 63-12.  

“The first two matches didn’t start off the best,” Samaniego said. “We were cold and not ready. But in the last match of the day against Clifton, we came out with a fire and a purpose to secure the win. Great job by the team and we keep improving every day.”

After Mihalko took off with another quick pin 28 seconds in, the Rams came back hard with seven straight pins in the 150- through 285-pound weight classes. Junior Rayan Taherpour won the 150-pound match 30 seconds in, followed by junior Pawel Wolak with a fall 53 seconds into his match. Senior Tyler Davis, Samaniego and Zeidman all kept the momentum, securing pins in each match.  

“Energy going into the quad was down, but we recovered well at the end,” Mihalko said. “Going forward we will have to do better with consistency in energy on and off the mat,”  

Junior Anthony Helmstetter added to the surge with a pin 5:33 into his 215-pound match, while fellow junior Adam Lmimouni secured a fall at 3:43 into the 285-pound match. Marks also had a second pin to bring the team score to 54-30, with all points coming from falls.

Following the quad meet, the Rams continued their momentum with a narrow win against Parsippany Hills 35-32 on Tuesday, Jan. 20, bringing the season record to 5-7.

Randolph will travel to Mendham for its next match on Wednesday, Jan. 28.