Andrew Pimental ’24 is a current senior and co-captain alongside Alex White ’25 of the Belmont Hill Varsity Wrestling Team, as well as one of the top athletes in the school. First competing as a starter on the varsity roster as an 8th grader, Andrew has been one of the strongest contributors to the team throughout his years as a BH wrestler. As a captain, he has helped lead the team to a Graves Kelsey Championship, ISL Dual Meet Championship, a 3rd place finish at New England Preps, and a 12th place team finish at Prep Nationals this year.
When asked about his introduction to the sport and early beginnings in his childhood, Andrew stated that it was a difficult transition. Andrew reminisced, “It was actually a total accident. I remember I was watching my youth team at a tournament and they didn’t have anyone for a certain weight class, so the coach just pulled me off the stands. I wrestled my first match there and just kept going at it. But I remember I really hated it at first. Every practice was something I hated looking forward to, and I disliked how hard the sport was both mentally and physically at first.” Andrew added that the support of the people around him helped him to start enjoying wrestling; “My brother, Freddy, was a pretty big help. He had gone through everything I did and knew how to help me have fun with it. Coach Mike Marshall and the Doughboy Club were very caring as well; I’m very lucky to have had the opportunity to wrestle at a club like Doughboy where everyone was supportive and encouraging.”
Andrew also mentioned that Doughboy was where he found his main inspirations for getting better as an athlete; one of the wrestlers he looked up to was Jimmy Harrington ’22 (also a Belmont Hill graduate), who often helped out Andrew at the club. Andrew stated about Jimmy, “I would say he was always one of the older guys who were fun to be around while focused on his craft. I also really admired the way he wrestled–it’s a very aggressive and tough style you see in a lot of top wrestlers.”
Andrew added that it was the older guys at Doughboy who helped him grow as a leader himself and help out the other younger wrestlers under him, as well as stepping into the leadership position of being a captain on the BH Varsity Team. Andrew noted that he thought the most important aspects of being a leader were “hard work and emotional stability.” While he admitted it sounded generic, Andrew stated that the best captains were the ones who did not stray too far from the “ideal archetype” of a good leader. Fellow wrestler Scotty Moreau ’26 described, “He’s a pretty fun guy while being a solid leader at the same time. He’s really down-to-earth and one of the few normal guys on the team, so he can empathize with a lot of the younger guys. I think he brings the ‘fun’ aspect of the sport into the wrestling room and he’s just a chill guy.”
In terms of tips for younger wrestlers looking to get better as athletes on the Belmont Hill wrestling teams, he noted, “I would say the mental aspect is one that’s often overlooked but is pretty important to pay attention to. I’ve personally always had the problem of overthinking my matches and letting my head get in the way of my wins, so my advice to younger guys would be to just not overthink it. At the end of the day, it’s just a wrestling match, and nothing too big is on the line. I remember I almost threw an ISL championship match with a wrestler much worse than me because I let my head get in the way.” Andrew added that his BH coaches were a huge help in him moving past this mental obstacle, with Coach Leonardis being one of his biggest supporters. “Coach Leo definitely helped me to come to terms with the fact that it wasn’t as big of a deal as I was making it out to be and to have fun out there. Having fun was the main objective, not overthinking about losing the match or getting too emotional.”
Starting at the 144lb weight class, Andrew cruised his way through the regular season, dominating every ISL match. He also easily ran through his bracket in one of the first tournaments of the post-season, the Graves Kelsey Championships, winning all of his matches and finishing as a 4x ISL champion. The COVID-19 pandemic halting the season in 2021 was the only reason Andrew did not claim his Graves Kelsey 5-peat. Andrew finished 4th at the Prep New England Tournament, after climbing his way through the consolation bracket and eventually losing to Andrew McCarthy from New York Military Academy, who was ranked #1 in the nation at the time.
For the prestigious Prep Nationals Tournament, the last tournament of the post-season, Andrew asserted that his goal would be to become an All-American, adding, “I definitely think it’s possible. I was lucky enough to become an All-American in my freshman year after finishing 8th in the country, and through the experience I’ve had the past few years I know what the level of competition is like. It’s something I’ve been working for all season and it would be awesome for the team to score some points at the tournament as well.” While Andrew unfortunately did not place at National Preps this year, he helped score numerous team points that ultimately resulted in the team placing 12th in the nation with 80.5 collective points. The Panel congratulates Andrew on his recent college commitment to wrestle at Washington and Lee University and wishes him luck in all of his future wrestling endeavors. Ultimately, Andrew has cemented himself in the wrestling history books at Belmont Hill, and helped foster some of the best BH wrestling teams of all time.