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02/27/2018 11:00 PMKyle Zalewski has wrestled for the Hornets throughout his time at Branford High School, and he’s spent all four of those seasons competing in the 220-pound weight class. Kyle’s experience in the division helped him win a ton of matches during the past two years, putting his career total at 109, which is good for fifth place on the program’s all-time win list. Kyle earned his 100th win at this year’s SCC Championship, where he took first place in the 220-pound division. For the year, he finished with a Hornets’ single-season record of 48 victories.
“It feels really good. You realize all the hard work, effort, blood, and sweat wasn’t for nothing,” says Kyle. “It was great to accomplish something like that. It was worth everything I did to get there. To be up there means you have to work hard. It’s a good feeling.”
Kyle took the 220 title at the SCC meet by winning a 3-1 decision versus Qasim Khan of Foran in the championship match. After that, the senior captain finished third at the Class M State Championship and then came in sixth place in the State Open.
Hornets’ Head Coach Jesse Hurlburt feels pleased about what Kyle accomplished for his squad. Hurlburt says that Kyle made tremendous strides during the second half of his tenure with the Hornets.
“Kyle has come a long way from his freshman year. To have more than 70 wins in the last two years is remarkable. He’s one of three or four athletes to get 40 wins in a single season,” Hurlburt says. “He works incredibly hard and turned the corner with the work he put in. He was doing everything he could to get better. His mindset got better as the years went on. His attitude this year was that nobody was going to beat him.”
Hurlburt adds that Kyle doesn’t execute an array of maneuvers like many other wrestlers. Instead, Kyle only performs a select few, but does so with nearly flawless technique. As a result, he’s given his opponents plenty of problems on the mat.
“I usually try to work an upper-body throw or go for a double leg,” says Kyle. “You have to practice a move 1,000 times before getting it perfect. I did a lot of practice to make sure I got them down perfectly without failure.”
Kyle admits that he wasn’t as focused as he needed to be in his first two years with the team. However, Kyle dug deep in terms of his work ethic during his junior and senior seasons, and the proof of that shows up in his victory total.
“My junior and senior year is when I kind of started taking everything more seriously,” Kyle says. “I was in the gym every day, eating clean, and was an overall more healthy kid.”
Throughout the last two years, Kyle has come to love working out. When he isn’t wrestling, Kyle is a regular in the weight room.
“All I did was weight lift...I think when I’m working out, it makes me feel good, so I think it’s just a general feeling I get when I work out,” says Kyle. “During the summer [before senior year], I lifted every day. I started going to a wrestling camp and did offseason wrestling for five or six months to improve my technique and skill.”
Kyle also made great use of his practice time with the Hornets, and he feels that went a long way toward all of his success these the past two years. Last year as a junior, Kyle took third place at the SCC Championship and finished fifth in Class M, setting him up for an even bigger senior season in the 220-pound division.
“We do a lot of live wrestling. We do three two-minute periods of live wrestling with partners,” Kyle says. “We also do a lot of running to boost endurance and agility. We do all of that conditioning so we can last longer on the mat.”
Kyle also enjoyed serving as one of Branford’s captains this season. Kyle really took to being in a leadership position and did all he could to make sure that everything was going well for his fellow Hornets.
“I don’t want to say you have to watch over the team, but you want everybody to be safe. You’re the big brother, so you have to take care of everyone,” says Kyle. “All my teammates looked up to me. I liked it because everybody on the team loves me. I’m not a mean guy and everyone knows they can ask me for help. I’ll do anything for them.”