By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Growing up, Adrian Guzman played soccer, but it wasn’t a sport that seemed to resonate with him so he decided to try something else. 

He had found in interest in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), but once his mother found out what it was and saw a match she told her son that she didn’t want him anywhere near a fighting cage. With MMA behind him he thought hockey was another sport he could get into, but once again his mother squashed that idea as she didn’t want her son to get hurt.

Eventually it was his mother who signed him up for wrestling, a sport that stuck with him. The funny thing about wrestling, that Guzman didn’t find out until years later, was that his mother signed him up for the sport because she thought her son was too much of a wimp and needed a backbone. Thankfully it was a sport that he enjoyed and eventually became rather good at.

“With the approval of my mother, wrestling was something that I could get into,” he said. “I could go out and throw people around while I was on the mat, but once the match was over I could make friends with them; that’s just the type of person that I am.”

Although as a young wrestler, Guzman never really thought that if he continued with the sport he would become some top-notch wrestler, he just enjoyed the sport. However, when his coaches at the time (6th grade) asked him where he was going to high school ne knew that he could possibly succeed in the sport. Guzman is originally from New Jersey, but his family had moved to Framingham when the coaches started asking him about high school.

“Framingham didn’t have a youth wrestling program when I lived there so I joined the Ashland program,” he said. “Eventually my mother moved us to Ashland so that I could go to high school there while hopefully wrestling.”

While participating in the Ashland youth wrestling program Guzman always found himself watching the high school wrestlers and what they were doing. Along with his coaches help he started to incorporate those moves into his workouts to get better on the mat. With his focus on the basics, he started to see his wrestling techniques starting to improve.

Upon finally entering high school, the then freshman tried out for and made the varsity wrestling team. That year he put together a decent year for a first-year wrestler on the high school level and eventually found his way into the Division 3 State Tournament where he would finish third in the 152-pound weight class. 

“The senior that I lost to that year was very good, but although I had lost it showed me how he was able to take me down and I would learn from that,” Guzman said. “You can’t stick to all that you know, you need to keep fixing things as you go along if you want to get better.”

As a sophomore the Clocker wrestler was ready to take on the wrestling world and found himself more than prepared to rise to the top of the charts and become a state champion. Although his mother would not stand in his way of greatness that year, an injury would.

“I was really ready for that season, I felt that I could have competed with anyone, but life was just not on my side that year,” he said. “The pain hurt a lot and I was stuck in a hospital bed instead of wrestling.”

When he finally was released from the hospital Guzman knew that he had a high mountain to climb to get back to where he was just a year earlier. All of his opponents were still wrestling while he was laid up in that hospital and he knew that he would have to come back stronger than ever and needed to put in a lot of work if he wanted to resume his wrestling career.

Not only did Guzman put in all the work to get back onto the mat but he also rode that work ethic all the way back into the Division 3 State Wrestling Tournament. Once in the tournament along with 19 other wrestlers in the 157-pound weight class, the Ashland junior began dispatching of his opponents one by one until there was none left to earn his first ever State Championship.

“It was a really weird feeling, but one that I deserved as I felt that I was the top dog and could win it all,” the then-junior said. “My final opponent was really good and once I finally won, I didn’t want to celebrate in front of him. This championship was three years in the making and it was well deserved with al that I had to do to get here.”

Now as he gets ready to begin his senior season under Ashland Coach Peter Zacchilli he not only wants to repeat as the Division 3 State Champion but wants to advance further into the tournament; something he was unable to do last winter.

“I didn’t do all that well last year after winning the state championship,” Guzman said. “This year I am aiming higher; I want to do well in both the All-States and New England’s.”

In order to accomplish his next goals, the senior wrestler knows that he is going to have to work on his speed on the mat. He noted that strength can only get you so far, so you cannot continue to only relay on that one aspect of your game. Guzman is not only planning on improving his speed but want to bring a more technical aspect to his wrestling this, his final season for the Clockers. 

If he is able to do all that Guzman firmly believes there is no doubt that he can capture back-to-back State Championships in addition to doing well in both the All State and New England Competitions.