Coach Bill Belichick and AHS wrestling stand-out Brady Bekkenhuis at AHS last month. / AHS Athletics photo
UPDATED, March 3: Arlington High senior Kamila Vizcinesk won her second consecutive Division 1 girls’ state title at the recent state championships at North Andover High School. Wrestling in the 126-pound class, she dominated her opponents throughout the competition. On the boys side, junior heavyweight Brady Bekkenhuis finished in fourth place.
In earlier action, the Arlington High wrestling team won the Division 1 Central/Metro Sectional Tournament for the second straight year.
The Ponders accumulated 221.5 team points to outdistance runner-up Winchester by more than 40 points at the match on Saturday, Feb. 15. Four Arlington wrestlers, senior Leo Fenellosa and juniors Cedric Daniel, Davi Dos Santos, and Brady Bekkenhuis took home gold medals in their respective weight classes.
Bekkenhuis, who scored his 100th career win at the tourney, was named the “Outstanding Wrestler,” recording four pins in four matches. Arlington head coach Kevin Cummings also received an award as the section’s Coach of the Year. Eight other Arlington wrestlers placed in the top six along with the four, automatically qualifying for the Division 1 State Tournament at North Andover High on Feb. 22 and 23.
On Feb. 5, the AHS wrestling team bested Woburn High School, 36-30, finishing the season with a 22-0 record and claiming the Liberty Division Championship for a seventh straight season.
The Ponders run got even more attention late this season when Bekkenhuis, an offensive lineman who was ranked as one of the state’s best football players, got a visit from former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
Belichick, now head football coach at the University of North Carolina, was in New England late last month on a recruiting tour hoping to get top local talent to join him, according to a report on CBS News Boston/WBZ-TV.
Belichick was at Arlington High School on Jan. 23 and met with Bekkenhuis, who previously committed to Bill O’Brien and the Boston College Eagles, according to reports. AHS Athletics posted a photo of Bekkenhuis and Belichick on its Twitter/X account. But it was back to wrestling and the season at hand for Bekkenhuis.
After racking up four more wins on Saturday, Feb. 1, the AHS were 21-0 and ready to take on the Woburn Tanners on Wednesday night, Feb. 5, in a showdown for the Liberty Division title of the Middlesex League. The meet will be contested in the Red Gym at AHS, the last official event to be held there before it is torn down sometime in the coming weeks.
Season overview
It’s been quite a ride for the AHS wrestling team.
After defeating Middlesex League rival Reading by a score of 45-29, the team traveled to Holliston High on Jan. 18 to take on Hopkinton, Concord-Carlisle, Catholic Memorial, and Holliston in a superquad meet. The Ponders defeated all four of its opponents by lopsided scores.
Returning to the high school for a home meet against Wilmington on Jan. 22, the wrestlers came away with a 68-9 rout to run their season record to 16-0.
Earlier this season, AHS wrestling coach Cummings notched his 400th career win in a super-squad meet at Beverly High School over the holiday break. The historic win came in the second match when the Ponders defeated North Andover, 53-27. Arlington swept all four of its matches on the day against formidable opponents from Haverhill, Beverly, Melrose and North Andover. The four wins put the team’s early season record at 5-0 as they had previously eked out a 33-30 win over Winchester in the season opener.
Coach Cummings had only seven wrestlers on the squad when he started the AHS program 29 years ago. He needed 14 to fill out a lineup. Since that initial year, he has had only one other losing season. His assistant during much of that time has been Mike Covel, who was the captain of that first AHS team. This year, Cummings was able to add a second assistant in Andrew Ellis, a ’15 AHS alum, and one of only two Arlington wrestlers to attain All-State status. There are 73 students participating in the wrestling program – a far cry from that first year.
The contest against Winchester was particularly crucial as the neighboring towns have dominated the Liberty Division of the Middlesex League ever since the conference was divided into separate large and small school divisions.
The victory wasn’t decided until AHS heavyweight junior Brady Bekkenhuis scored a pin of Omar Alosta in the final bout. Winchester had been clinging to a narrow advantage, 30-27. Arlington has now defeated the Red and Black for the last seven years.
Belmont tourney
On Saturday, Jan. 4, the Ponder wrestlers made another strong statement by topping 20 other teams to win the annual Brendan Grant Memorial Tournament at Belmont High School. The team scored 227 points to defeat second-place Woburn by 38.5 points. Bekkenhuis and junior Cedric Daniel took first place in their weight classes by overwhelming their opponents.
Bekkenhuis pinned all four of his adversaries, while Daniel pinned through his first three bouts before scoring a resounding 17-2 technical fall over his Lexington opponent in the final match. Other Arlington competitors to take place at the tourney were junior Davi Dos Santos, junior Daniel Carreira, and senior Leo Fenollosa, who had second-place finishes. Senior Andres Sandoval-Alveraz took a third, junior Sam Logan a fourth and senior Donnie Felcsuti a fifth.
The next day, two AHS athletes competed in the all-girls tournament also at Belmont High. Senior Kamila Vizcineski took a gold medal, and first-year student Madlyn Hickey a bronze.
This sports story was written by Sam Kafrissen and published Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, and updated on Jan. 23, Feb. 3, Feb. 15, Feb. 16, with information from WBZ-TV and Arlington High’s athletic department, and March 3.
Coach Cummings has been recognized for his efforts previously, read it here. >>
