40 MARCH 2024 By Mark Hays Arcadia High and Brophy Prep’s squads both had successful seasons characterized by constant improvement and reaching their ultimate goal: making it to the State Championships.  Coach Clifford Nafrada said that between the school’s varsity, junior varsity, and girls wrestling programs, the school competed in seven meets and nine tournaments for the 2023-24 season. He highlighted that the Arcadia Titans wrestled well against some solid competition. “We had tough matches with Desert Mountain and Paradise Valley, but Horizon and Campo Verde may be the strongest opponents in our section,” Nafrada said. “We have a very young team with 16 freshmen or first-year wrestlers, but they have shown heart and grit when facing older, more experienced opponents and were still able to perform admirably.” Nafrada said that because Scottsdale Unified School District doesn’t have middle school wrestling, Arcadia High’s freshmen can have a hard time against more experienced wrestlers. “Our goals are to get wrestlers to a varsity level, then to qualify for state, and ultimately to place during their careers here at Arcadia,” he said. “To help support this timeline, I will be partnering with two D1 ASU wrestlers to create a wrestling club, debuting hopefully in March and open to middle and high school kids.” Nafrada said that this year’s training schedule focused more on running drills than practicing live wrestling. “I try to emphasize technique and mechanics with a layer of physicality and body awareness,” Nafrada said. “Over time, we start to individualize each wrestler’s skill set based on their physical gifts, as no two wrestlers are built the same.” Senior wrestler Nolan Field became Arcadia’s first four-time Boys Wrestling State Championship qualifier. Junior Yvette Sigelnski qualified for Girls State – she and Nolan headed to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum for the AIA Division 2 State Championships in February. Both battled several tough opponents in their brackets and finished 2-2.  At Brophy, Head Coach Wayne Catan has similar objectives. “The main goal is to get everyone to the state tournament with a top-four finish,” he said. “When you get to state, anything can happen.” Throughout the season, sophomore heavyweight Josh Finch-Logan held a solid record with 24 wins and seven losses. Sophomore Blake Sweetman had a record of 32-7 followed by junior Jackson Sweetman with a record of 29-5. Catan highlighted another stand-out wrestler, Adam Angulo, who led the team with a 35-4 record. He placed first in the Central Arizona Classic in January. Brophy also attended the 2024 AIA Sectional Tournament. Catan said he had high expectations for three to four wrestlers to place in the finals with a seeding at the State Championship. Four wrestlers who competed for the Broncos in last year’s state tournament returned this year: Adam Angulo, Sean Kennedy, Woody Bayless, and Jackson Sweetman. The Broncos finished ninth at the AIA Division I State Championships in February, with 75 points behind sophomore finalist Adam Angulo and four overall top- five finishes. “I am proud of the whole team. We accomplished Top 10 in the state without injured athletes Ty Trickle, Copper Carey, and Micah Blackburn,” Catan said. “Josh, Blake and Jackson all had great matches. We are going to be good next year!” Angulo reached the final after entering as the No. 2 seed and winning the section title at 144. He won matches over Blake Veldhuizen from Morenci High via fall, Kori Kemper of Desert Vista on a decision (3-1), and Josiah Brown of Westpoint in a tiebreaker, 2-1. “Adam did what we expected,” Catan said. “He competed against the No. 2 wrestler in the nation. The goal was to get to the final this year. He had a tough bracket and defeated the No. 3 and 4 wrestlers in the quarterfinals and semifinals.” He lost in the final to Sergio Vega of Sunnyside High (who is ranked #2 in the nation, undefeated in high school, and committed to Cornell), and finished the season with a 43-6 record overall. Jackson Sweetman (38-8) was a semifinalist and placed fifth overall in the wrestle-backs, defeating Bryce Crawford of Liberty High. Blake Sweetman was third overall by defeating Rene Bostick via fall in the consolation final. Josh Finch-Logan was also third at 285 with a win thanks to a 9-3 decision. “We trained hard this season. The culture was really good. It counts,” Catan said. “They guys were gelling, the parents were great, and I thank Coach Klein and Coach Catan Jr. for their assistance.” High school wrestling teams advance to State 2024 Direct-mailed to households in 85018, 85016, 85251 and 85253, the Arcadia News targets affluent families with our trusted and award-winning monthly publication. RESERVE YOUR SPACE BY MARCH 13 AT NOON. Contact Roni Mier at roni@arcadianews.com or call 602-840-6379 Display Ad + Listing • 1/4* Page Print Ready Color Ad in the APRIL Issue ($845 value) Need help with ad design? We are happy to design your ad for $45. • FREE Summer Camp Directory Listing in the APRIL Issue ($130 value) Want to reach more happy campers? ’23 SUMMER ArcAdiA News Camp DIRECTORY Camp DIRECTORY OF LISTINGS 2021 OF LISTINGS 2021 Is your camp missing? EMAIL RONI@ARCADIANEWS.COM TO ADVERTISE YOUR CAMP IN THE MAY 2021 CAMP DIRECTORY . 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