SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Springs senior wrestler Matt Holton is 19-4 in his 23 matches this season. Usually wrestling in the 220-pound weight class, he is 4-0 this year when moved up to 285 pounds against larger opposition.
Holton claimed the 285-pound championship at the Saratoga Invitational last weekend, as the team finished seventh overall.
Last year, he finished in fifth place at the invitational. Consistent progress on the mat goes hand-in-hand with Holton, who has been wrestling since eighth grade, according to head varsity coach Kris West.
“He’s one of our unofficial captains this year and he’s just a good all-around kid,” West said. “A good athlete and hard worker. That’s the kind of kid who you want as the leader of your team. He’s definitely one of the hardest workers on the team, especially for a big guy. He just grinds guys down at that weight class. He’s probably in one of the best conditions around for heavy and super heavy weights. If you saw this kid wrestle in ninth grade to where he is now, you would never believe where he is. He’s put in time in the weight room, wrestling in the offseason and he pretty much does everything you ask of him as a coach. You can see that the hard work is paying off.”
A key for Holton, who prides himself on being one of the hardest workers, has been joining teammates Dominic Inzana (junior) and Rich Schrade (sophomore) at Journeymen Wrestling, during the last couple offseasons.
“You have to do a little more than what we do in the season,” West said. “We can make him a good wrestler in the season, but if you want to be a great wrestler, section and state champ, than you have to do it outside the season…and Matt’s done all those things.”
Being around Olympic and NCAA athletes at Journeymen has helped improve the senior’s technique, while his speed and endurance for a big man has paid off, especially when West has decided to “test the waters” with Holton in the 285-pound upper weight class, depending on matchups.
Where West feels the team is stronger with having Holton at 220 pounds in dual meets, tournaments are more opportune for him to go at 285.
“My strategy doesn’t change, but I try not to be under anyone because they’re too heavy (in the 285-pound weight class),” said Holton. “I used my speed (at the Saratoga Invitation) and conditioning and I just kept pushing guys, wearing them out and eventually pinning them.”
After quarterfinal and semifinal wins, Holton pinned Luzerne–Lake George’s Adam Agresta in 2:30 to capture the lone Blue Streaks individual finals win of the Saratoga Invitational.
The two kept it close in the beginning with neither wrestler able to get a takedown. In the second period, Holton stuck first with a takedown before he converted a reversal and held Agresta down the remainder of the period. After giving up an escape at the end of the second, Holton responded in the third when Agresta flopped to his hip with his arm up. Holton then punched through and pinned Agresta for the win.
Holton focuses completely on wrestling all year round and says he is heavily influenced by his parents and the coaching staff at Saratoga Springs both on and off the mat.
On Wednesday night, Holton and Saratoga Springs dropped a one-sided matchup to Burnt Hills-Ballston at home, dropping the Blue Streaks team record to 10-3. One of Saratoga Springs’ other losses this season came to another top team in the state, Shenendehowa.
But it’s not to say West isn’t happy with where the team is at this point in the season.
“We’re right where we should be,” said West on Tuesday afternoon. “We’ve beaten the teams we’re supposed to beat and we wrestled pretty tough in our losses.”
As far as Holton is concerned, the future is still up in the air, but he has been in talks with The College at Brockport, where he hopes to wrestle next winter in college. But before that, his goal is to look back on his career at Saratoga Springs as a 2013-14 Section II tournament winner.
