The Chapel Hill High School Tigers wrestling team finished its season with a 6-19 record, placing third in the DC-6 4A conference with a 2-3 record.
The team consisted of five seniors, two of whom—Owen Rector (120 pounds) and Gabe Waterhouse (157 pounds)—qualified for the 4A Mideast Regionals.
Notable wins for the Tigers included a 42-32 win over rival Carrboro High School on November 21 and a conference win over Northern Durham High School by a score of 42-27 on January 4.
The team concluded its regular season with a loss to Enloe High School on January 30, falling to the Eagles 46-28.
The men’s team had five wrestlers qualify for the regional tournament, which took place on February 9-10. Joining Rector and Waterhouse were sophomore Troy Deniz (190 pounds) and freshmen Owen Reams (285 pounds) and Elga Helmstetter (113 pounds). None qualified for the state tournament.
Junior Siena Palmisciano—who competed in the 114-pound weight class—placed third in regional tournament for the women and was the only wrestler to qualify for the state tournament on February 17.
Palmisciano felt that she grew throughout the season and was excited for next year.
“I continued competing consistently. I don’t necessarily stop as soon as the regular school season is over,” Palmisciano said. “I continued doing different styles of wrestling in the offseason like freestyle. I felt a lot more confident, and I didn’t try to wrestle down to other people’s level as much as I did last year,” she added.
Palmisciano placed fifth in the first edition of the NCHSAA women’s state championship in the weekend-long event in Greensboro, North Carolina after placing eighth in the state invitational tournament last year.
Head Coach Tripp Price said that while the team was extremely young this year, the Tigers did extremely well under the circumstances.
“It [the season] went really well because [the wrestlers] improved as the year went on, and that’s the whole key to the season,” Price said.
Waterhouse, who ended the season with a 28-11 record, felt that even though the season did not go as well as the Tigers may have liked, he was extremely proud of the team and believes the underclass wrestlers will continue to improve next year.
“Unfortunately, we lost to East, which is never good, and didn’t even make it to the state duals,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it’s not super important. We’re out there to improve and get better, and we have a really young team.”
