Wrestling head coach Grayson Shepperd ’11 was in an awkward position at the winter sports banquet, the triannual celebration at the end of each season of athletics. At the banquet, the coaches from each team give three awards: Most Improved Player, Coaches’ Award and Most Valuable Player. This year, the GDS varsity wrestling team only had two wrestlers: freshman Stuart Mitchell and senior Beck Holtzman.
Mitchell took home the most improved award after developing as a wrestler throughout the season. He earned wins at MAC Individual Championships and MAC Duals. Holtzman—a Wesleyan wrestling commit—earned Most Valuable Player and Coaches’ Award at the banquet.
Holtzman’s last tournament for GDS wrestling was the National Prep Championships at Lehigh University. He qualified for the event after taking the D.C. state crown in his weight class for the third time in four years. He went into the tournament with a record of 98 wins and 15 losses in his high school wrestling career.
National Prep Championships is a qualification-based tournament where the top wrestlers at private schools compete for a national-recognized title and the chance for All-American honors.
“National preps is another level from anything else we do in the season, and some of the best teams in the country are there,” Shepperd said.
To prepare for the tournament, Holtzman practiced with the Mount Saint Joseph (Maryland) wrestling team since he had no teammates competing in the tournament. In the tournament, Holztman went 2-2, losing by technical fall to 4th-seeded wrestler Jason Torres from Malvern Prep (Pennsylvania) 19-3 early in the second period.
“Malvern is one of the best wrestling teams in the country. It wasn’t my best match, but he was a really tough opponent,” Holtzman said. Torres is committed to wrestle at the University of West Virginia next year.
Holtzman’s second match against Solomon Johns from Northfield Mount Hermon (Massachusetts) was scoreless after the first period. Holtzman elected to start on the bottom in the second period and earned an escape after a little over a minute. He brought Johns to the floor 30 seconds later. After the second period, Holtzman held a commanding 8-0 lead. Midway through the third period, Holtzman got his fourth takedown of the match, taking a 17-2 lead and an automatic win by technical fall. His record stood at 99-16.
In Holtzman’s third match of the two-day tournament, he faced Sawyer Palian from The Linsley School (West Virginia). “When that match started, after a few seconds, I was like ‘okay Beck’s got this’,” Shepperd said. “I just started pushing him to score as many points and have as much fun as he could.” Holtzman won the match, 11-2, earning his 100th win and joining an exclusive club of GDS wrestlers to meet the milestone.
Shepperd, who wrestled for GDS in high school, told the Bit that he only knows of two other wrestlers to hit 100 wins: Julia Ernst ’14 and the now-famous actor Ethan Slater ’10.
After the match, Holtzman’s achievement was announced on the PA system at the Lehigh Stabler Athletic Center while the wrestlers in the gym applauded.
Shepperd made a banner for Holtzman commemorating his 100 wins with photos from the start of his wrestling career in 7th grade to photos of him spladling and cradling his opponents. Shepperd covertly held the banner, which was supposed to be a surprise, in the Internet Cafe and corralled about 20 former members of the wrestling team to sign it during lunch. Many of them had quit the team due to injuries, personal commitments and the gruelling nature of the wrestling season.
Senior Tyler Smallwood, a former wrestler, did not realize the banner was supposed to be a surprise and brought Holztman into the Internet Cafe to see it. Shepperd threw his hands up into the air and turned around as Holtzman smiled at the banner and joked about the poor form in his 7th grade wrestling stance.