Five years ago, the Cambridge Rindge and Latin wrestling team struggled during every meet to put a full team on the mat. With a squad of under 20 wrestlers, the Falcons were typically forced to forfeit more than half their individual matches in the 14 weight classes, since the wrestlers weren’t evenly distributed across the classes. They finished the 2021–2022 season, Coach Spencer Lund’s first year at the helm, with many more losses than wins.
Over the subsequent years, the team experienced steady improvement, grew its ranks, increased its competitiveness in more weight classes, and won more meets each season. This year, they became Dual County League champions for the first time since Cambridge joined in 2014, finishing the season with a 19-7 record.
The team’s top six wrestlers finished up the season at the Division I State Championship on Friday and Saturday. The top wrestler for Cambridge Rindge and Latin was junior Orlando Spadola, who placed sixth in the 175-pound weight class. The team finished 27th among 41 teams. At the Sectional championship the week before, Rory Evans captured the Sectional title at the 165-pound weight class to become the 17th wrestler in school history to win a sectional championship, a victory he credited in part to his teammates.
“I’ve been on other sports teams in the past where it wasn’t the same camaraderie,” said the senior, who as a sophomore had a 7-16 record at 190 pounds. “I don’t know if this is inherent in wrestling, but when I first got on the team, everyone was really welcoming.”
Much of the team’s success can be chalked up to that culture of positivity that Lund began to establish when he became the coach five years ago. “In the beginning, I was really focused on the culture, trying to make it inclusive, positive, and supportive,” he said. “We wanted it so that when you were around wrestlers, you felt like they were good people.”
This culture has created a family-like atmosphere that members of the team say has fostered a group mindset centered on improvement and working toward the same goal of becoming a better team.
“Everybody’s so close,” said senior Samir Zazai, who competed in the 157-pound weight class this season. “It’s not just a community, it’s a family where it is so welcoming because everybody is striving to be great and they’re trying so hard to achieve the same goal.”
The results were striking. Wrestlers who struggled for years achieved far more success this year.
“I didn’t even have a winning record until this year,” said senior Gavin Oberhauser, who was 25-10 this year and reached the state championship in the 144-pound weight class. Two years ago, he finished with a 1-7 record in the 138- and 144-pound weight classes. “It’s just been so incredible. I mean, sophomore year, I only won like one or two matches. So, to come this far and have such a turnaround, it just feels amazing. It really feels like all the years of work that I put in are paying off.”
The success has come even though the coaching staff of Lund, Cole Lampman, Aaron Gordon, and Peter Payack have consistently emphasized that winning isn’t always the most important goal. Hard work and demonstrating improvement are the focus, with the idea that wins will naturally follow from there.
If a wrestler were to get pinned in the first period, match after match, but lasts longer into his matches over time, the team considers that progress a meaningful achievement. “If a wrestler gets pinned in his first outing in 20 seconds, we’ll say, ‘We’re proud of you for having the courage to go out there and compete,’” said Lund. “Eventually, they’ll be able to go more than a minute and then make it out of the first period. We celebrate these little wins.”
The bond the wrestlers have forged with one another has motivated many of them to continue their work in the offseason at a nonprofit youth wrestling organization.
“Last year, I made sure I told every single guy that if they want to be great in the states, they have to start showing up in summer in the hot weather,” Zazai said. “We were working twice a day, actually — at 7 in the morning and then at 5 in the afternoon. We were working hard, waking up early in summer. That was fun for us. And it was a big reason for us to have had this huge jump this season.”
With the season now over, the wrestling team will soon begin the work of preparing for next season, building on their successes this season and harnessing the supportiveness of each other.
“I would say now we’re a good team,” Lund said. “And we’re getting better. I think next year we’re going to be extremely good.”
A stronger
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