When you enter a wrestling room, you hear the crash of bodies hitting the mat. Four, five, even 10 at a time. Now imagine hearing the thunderous thud of 50 bodies hitting the mat.
That’s heard every day at Massachusetts’ Lowell High School’s practice room. The storied program boasts 16 State championships and 5 New England titles. And with over 90 registered wrestlers, they’re definitely looking to add to those stats this season.
Teams haven’t always been this… plentiful. After a run in the early 2000s where Lowell won three state titles in four years, there were some lean years.
“We would have like 60-70 kids back when I wrestled [2002-2005],” Lowell Co-Head Coach Nick Logan recalled. “So that's what I was used to… that's what I thought Lowell wrestling was.”
During Logan’s tenure as a high school wrestler, the school had enough kids to supply a varsity, junior varsity, and even a freshman team. After a New England team title in 2007, however, the numbers began to dwindle. Although the individual accolades were there with the occasional Lowell wrestler making the finals of States or placing at New Englands, the traditional team success was elusive.
“I think in 2010 it kind of started going downhill,” said Logan. “When I came on [as coach] in 2018, there were like 11 kids.”
Logan, spoiled by his own experience, was mystified when he was told this was the whole team and not just the freshman team.
“I think we hit 18-20 total my first year. And then in my second year I got up to 30 which I thought was crazy at that time.”
Then came 2020, and everything stopped everywhere.
“Obviously Covid hurt us; numbers went down,” Logan told the Schwartz Report. “We had like 20 kids, but then the next year we had about 45 kids. Last year we had about 75.
“Covid set us back a little bit, but last year was the first time we were really getting back to Lowell wrestling. What I’m really proud of is this is the first time we have a varsity room of about 40 experienced kids.”
The Red Raiders return six D1N sectional place winners and currently sit at No. 25 in the Schwartz Report’s dual rankings. They are unranked in the tournament rankings, but don’t be surprised to see them crack the list during the season.
Nevertheless, with 40 kids in the varsity room and almost 100 registered, that's still more than half of the full roster lacking experience.
“It’s a big tool in recruiting: I tell the kids you don't get beat up by seniors,” Logan laughed. “It’s a lighter practice, we go 3 to 4:30 in the freshman cafeteria. They do a warmup, wrestle live, some conditioning, maybe spins or something like that. But we really try not to overdo it.”
According to Logan, some kids wish practice was longer, but if they knew what a Lowell varsity practice was like, they may rethink their decision.
“We run a mile before practice, we go 3 to 5:15, after the mile [there’s] more conditioning and that's what would scare kids away. But that's the first year—you teach these kids to wrestle and then in your second year you can start to amp it up a little bit.”
Since Logan joined the Lowell staff, he’s always aimed for high numbers and to grow the sport.
“People ask me how do you get these numbers? The answer is you don’t just get these numbers, it's serious work.” Logan describes it as a daily hustle to grow the team and the sport. “If you saw my classroom I have posters everywhere, promotional posters, QR codes saying Join Lowell Wrestling! I will go to the freshman cafeteria and set up a table, bring posters, our uniforms, and I l walk around to every single table and put flyers in kids’s hand telling them that they look tough and should join Lowell wrestling”
This hard work is definitely paying off as Lowell is setting record numbers for participation.
“If you get 200 kids to think about, you might get 100 kids to show up, you walk away with 60 to 70 kids loving the sport.” Logan said.
The best part of Lowell’s miniature army? With all the numbers they have, they can field just about a full girls team. They recently had their first all-girls practice coached by 3x MIAA Girls All-State champ and current MIWOA official Sophie Matthews (Woburn ‘21)
The girls team boasts its own standout wrestlers: Amanda Moundele (‘25) 2x MIAA All-State place winner, Saphira Sao (‘26) MWA New England finalist, and Ameliyah Martinez (‘26) an MIAA All-State finalist.
“It’s honestly amazing,” Moundele told the Schwartz Report. “I started my freshman year, and to see the growth of girl’s wrestling in the past couple years has been phenomenal. I hope to see us grow as a girls team and change the culture surrounding wrestling.”