“Champions are built, not born.”
This motto – inscribed on the wall of the school’s wrestling room – is one the wrestling team abides by throughout the season, according to senior Yuvi Shatil. Shatil, the Bay State Conference Carey Division Wrestler of the Year, won the MIAA Division I State Championship in his weight class. Seniors Stephano and Ricardo Magny placed third and seventh, respectively, in their weight classes. All three were named Bay State Conference All-Stars, as was junior Andres Crespo; junior Jake MacMillan was named as an honorable mention.
Shatil placed third at the Sectional Championship before the Division I State Championship. He said that this result was a blow to his confidence.
“I definitely didn’t wrestle my best, didn’t bring it there,” he said. “Going into States, to be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t say I had a ton of confidence.”
Nevertheless, Shatil won his two matches that day, the first of which he won by pinning his opponent. As a result, he had a far different outlook going into the second day.
“Coming into day two, I would say I definitely knew I could win it all,” Shatil said. “[I] wanted to win it all, and I was going to do whatever it took to win it all, and that was by far the best I’ve wrestled [in] my entire career.”
He won both his matches that day, and became Brookline’s first Division I State Champion since 2006.
“When the brackets came out, I said to [my coach] that I didn’t think there was anyone really dominant in the whole bracket,” he said. “After my semifinal match, I came up to him and I said to him, ‘I was wrong about one thing.’ There was someone dominant in this bracket, of course, talking about myself.”
Shatil, Stephano and Ricardo all qualified for the MIAA All-State championship after their high finishes in the state championship.
“I definitely came in really confident,” Shatil said. “My coach said I was wrestling like an All-State champ, and I agreed with him.”
However, Shatil lost his second match of the tournament, but managed to advance to the final of the consolation bracket before again being defeated. He placed fourth overall; the Magny brothers each placed eighth.
According to Stephano, the benefits of wrestling extend beyond the mat. He emphasizes the bonds created between him and his teammates through their shared commitment to the sport.
“Wrestling is really hard, but once you put time into it, it’s fun,” Stephano said. “There were three seniors – me, Yuvi and my brother – together for four years. It really bonded us together.”
Ricardo echoed this sentiment.
“Sometimes you do stuff you don’t enjoy, like cutting weight every week, but I’ve been doing it with Yuvi and Stephano, and that created a strong bond between us,” he said.
Both brothers also mentioned the positive influence of their coach, Michael Carver. Stephano said Carver is a mentor to him in both wrestling and school, while Ricardo said he first learned about wrestling through Carver.
“Finding a coach that cares like coach Carver is hard to find, so that motivated me to work harder for him and myself,” Stephano said.
All three wrestlers emphasized the personal rewards of wrestling, and Shatil in particular noted the thrill of winning.
“There’s no feeling quite like winning a wrestling match because you put everything you have forward,” Shatil said. “The other kid puts everything they have forward, and in the end, to come out victorious, there’s nothing quite like it.”
Emmanuel D’Agostino can be contacted at [email protected].
