Dungeon Wrestling Club on their way to the NHSCA Team Duals
Get your car washed this Saturday in Hanover to assist local high school grapplers make their way to Virginia Beach for an upcoming national tournament.
Wrestlers from the Lakeville-based Dungeon Wrestling Club are readying themselves to head to Virginia, over Memorial Day Weekend for the NHSCA National Team Duals. Such trips come at a price, and the car wash was organized to help defray some of the travel expenses.
“We’ll arrive in Virginia Beach on May 27 to get weighed in, wrestle on the 28th and 29th, and then finish up and come back home on May 30,” said Russ Lindsay, owner of the Dungeon Training Center.
The lower-weight classes are filled with talent from the Cape Cod with Sandwich’s Gavon Potter (113 pounds) and Barnstable’s Nate Ryan available to wrestle in the 120-pound class, along with Canton’s Dominic Marinelli (106 pounds).
"It's an honor for somebody like coach Lindsay, who I see to be a pretty good coach, to pick me to want to be on this team to go to Virginia Beach," Potter said. "I'm just going down there to compete and for experience to get better and prepare myself for next season and offseason."
The car wash is scheduled to be at 195 Columbia Road in Hanover, near the junction of Routes 139 and 53, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. The suggested donation is $15 per car.
Wrestlers learn both the physical and mental aspects of the sport.
Lindsay has operated the Dungeon Training Center for aspiring wrestlers since 2006 at locations in Whitman, Quincy, Hanover, and now Lakeville. The wrestlers meet four times per week, year round, to sharpen their mat skills against some of the top competitors in the area.
Lindsay said he focuses on defense and chain wrestling during the training sessions.
“These are all kids that love the sport of wrestling. It’s a tremendous sport that can teach you so much about yourself and give you important lessons you’ll carry with you for the rest of your life,” he said. “I’ve been very lucky to help train some great people and wonderful athletes over the years who’ve gone on to have success at the highest levels of college wrestling."
Potter, who is now a junior, joined the Dungeon Wrestling Club as a freshman but recently returned after a break due to COVID-19. He said the training sessions have helped him conditioning-wise, but especially in the mental aspect of the sport.
"It's mentally challenging going there and it's a very good experience and a very skilled group of kids that go there," he said. "I feel like it has helped me improve greatly. All of the kids in this group have the potential to do very well in this upcoming tournament."
There will be some familiar names making the trip to Virginia, representing some of the best wrestlers from Cape Cod to beyond the Braintree split. As many as 10 grapplers could make the trip to the dual meet nationals.
One of the top names is Hanover High sophomore Anthony Mann, who can wrestle at 138 or 145 pounds with equal success. Mann is coming off a huge winter season, winning the Division 3 state title at 138 pounds division.
“Anthony is the first state champion wrestler in the history of the high school,” said Lindsay, who is also the head coach of the Hanover High squad. “He’s young and still growing, but Anthony has the tools to be an exceptional wrestler. He’s already an excellent young man who had a superior grade-point average and is president of his high school class.”
Marshfield’s Owen Badgio can wrestle in the 138- or 145-pound weight class. Duxbury’s Anthony Innello (132 pounds) and Vincent Player (170 pounds) are in the wrestling room getting better every day. The same could be said of Taunton’s Christian Balmain (132) and Logan Frank (195 pounds), as well as Bridgewater-Raynham’s Nate Leach (220 pounds)
Bridgewater-Raynham’s star heavyweight grappler Dominic Siliva is also a frequent visitor to the Dungeon training facility, but will not make the trip due to a prior football commitment.
Email the reporter at dwolcott@wickedlocal.com and you can follow him on Twitter, @DavidWolcott1.
Cape Cod Times Staff Writer Courtney Jacobs contributed to this report. Contact him at cjacobs@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @CJ_Journalist.
This article originally appeared on wickedlocal.com: Dungeon Wrestling Club sending a team to the NHSCA Team Duals
